Consequences of Capture
by Dixxy Mouri
Summary: Warning for gore, suicideal themes, and strong language in later chapters. Cye, Kento, and Sage are about to watch their lives shatter before their very eyes as they're pulled back in the Dynasty. . . but this time for more than a few days. COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Prologue

The dark night sky shined down on the city of Toyama in a brilliant spectacle of bright, twinkling lights. Not a single twinkler was blocked by even the smallest of clouds. The moon was full and yellow, almost like a giant sugar cookie hung on a dark backdrop. The distant sound of hooting owls and howling wolves added to the serene night life.

All was at peace. . . except for one teenage boy.

Pale blue eyes stared up the sky from the rooftop of Mia Koji's manor as the lone figure thought over his situation. Soft blonde locks moved only slightly as a cool breeze blew by - he shivered slightly from the cold. From a spectator's point of view, one would think Sage was at peace. But deep down inside, he was troubled.

_It's over, but I can't live down these dreams, _he thought to himself. _Over a month has gone by, and I still can't shake these feelings. I can't forget the feeling of being trapped in that statue and hearing Cye and Kento screaming and not being able to do anything about it. . . dear God, why hasn't it stopped yet? Why do we have to keep suffering like this? Why? It's not fair! _

_I just want to move on with my life. . .  
_

It had been a month since Talpa and the Evil Dynasty had been vanquished by the Ronin Warriors. A month since Anubis had sacrificed himself to save Lady Kayura from Badamon. A month since Talpa had been destroyed. A month since the Jewel of Life saved Ryo's life. And a month since he, Cye, and Kento had experienced inhuman suffering in Talpa's torture chambers.

The screams still echoed in his the back of his mind like old ghosts. His muscles seemed to ache, almost as if they, too, could remember the pain. Sage wrapped his arms around his knees, feeling the soft green pajamas under his palms. To move felt so much different then it had for the first fifteen years of his life. Movement had a whole new meaning after being turned into a stone statue. A statue with a mind, a memory, and the capacity to have thoughts. Sage had hated that. He had almost wished he was back in the torture chamber while he'd been imprisoned there, chained inside that strange cavern. At least he could move, even if it was just a little bit. At least he was still flesh and blood.

At least he could feel his heartbeat.

The Warrior of Light shuddered. He was still having nightmares about the ordeal. There was no question in his mind that Kento and Cye were experiencing bad dreams, too, but he didn't know for sure. Cye and Kento shared a room, and anything that went on behind that door was their business - he was certain that if anything was going on, it was strictly between those two and those two alone. Even if it wasn't any of his business, he often found himself wondering what happened behind that door.

Somehow, Sage felt as if things had changed amongst him and all of his friends. Before Talpa and Cale kidnapped him to the Dynasty, he was positive Rowen and Ryo were the ones he wanted to be with. He felt more at home with Ryo, their leader, and Rowen, he best friend from the time he was eleven. Although there was no huge age gap between any of them, he was still a full grade behind Ryo and Rowen in school - that in itself was a barrier. There wasn't anything wrong with Cye or Kento, but he preferred the company of the oldest Ronins instead of the youngest (Sage wasn't sure where to put himself, being the supposed "middle child" of the Ronins).

But after the second war, Sage suddenly felt as if he wanted nothing more than to spend time with and get to know Cye and Kento. After all, they were all in the same grade, so it was more likely they'd have classes together when they started attending the same high school in the coming weeks. He no longer liked sharing a room with Rowen and Ryo as much as he had - he wanted to be with the other two. Somehow, a bond had formed between the three youngest Ronins. It almost made Sage wonder if the Ronin Warriors had been split into two groups.

_But am I the only one who feels that way? Do the others sense it, too?_

"You too?"

Sage was taken by surprise as he turned to see Kento was also on the roof. The Ronin of Earth was sitting next to him in an orange pair of sweat pants and an old white T-shirt that had faded to a dull cream from years of use. Previously, Sage would have been irritated by Kento's pressence - he and Kento usually didn't agree on a lot of things, especially when it came to battle tactics. That had caused a lot of head-butting during their battles with the Dynasty. Now, his appearance was comforting. "What brings you out here at two in morning?" Sage asked casually.

"Three," said Kento, tapping at his wrist. "Looks like somebody lost track of time. But if you're out here for the reason I think you're out here, we've got ourselves a problem." He sighed, scooching closer to the blonde. "It's nightmares, isn't it?" Sage nodded. "Thought so. It's been a problem for me and Cye, too. I don't know, but it's been hard to talk about with Mia or Ryo or Rowen, but. . . I had no problem telling you that just now."

"Because we all went through the same thing. Ryo and the others don't know what it was like. We have that much in common, so, I don't know. I know I don't talk to you two much, but sometimes it feels like it's just the three of us here. Alone in this big giant world. I feel like I'm walking down the street and I'm surrounded by people, but I feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere and if I called out and screamed as loud as I could no one would hear me." Sage narrowed his eyes. "It's hopeless. Why are we still suffering?"

Kento sighed heavily. "I was thinking the same thing, actually."

"Really?" said Sage. Seeing an opperunity to temporarily bring a little fun into his suddenly dull life, Sage smirked a little and made his comeback. "You think? We better call the papers. Kento's been thinking. That must mean the world is going to end, pigs are going to fly, and Rowen's changing his name to Peggy Sue." Sage closed his mouth, shut his eyes, and waited for Kento's response. Sure it wasn't the nicest thing he could have said, but Kento was the kind of person who could take those kinds of jokes. The kind of jokes a month ago Sage wouldn't have made with the other Ronin.

"Ha, ha, very funny," said Kento, playfully punching Halo on the shoulder. He gave Sage a smile with a deep, thoughtful sincerity behind it. He'd never seen something like that from him before, or at least, never directed at anyone but Cye, who was more like a brother to Hardrock than a best friend. "I did something about my little hunch. I went to the library and searched for books on the mental side of torture. You know, for the victim? Reoccurring nightmares are completely normal for anywhere from a week to a year or even more."

"A YEAR OR MORE?"

The Warrior of Earth shook his head. "Well, what happened was a lot worse that the examples they gave. But I'd much rather have bad dreams for a year then be dead forever, which could have happened, you know. Our powers and life forces were really taking it. I really thought I was going to die," said Kento. "Ryo and Rowen might've brought back dead bodies to our families. I, I don't know if I'd want my mom to hurt like that. I wouldn't want to see her or my dad or my sisters or brothers or anybody cry because I got myself killed. It could have been the end for us. . ."

Sage blinked. "You're a lot more intelligent than you let on."

Kento laughed. "Yeah, sometimes. I'm not really smart, just observant."

"I could argue that."

Kento grumbled as he shot a look behind him to where Cye was sitting. How he'd gotten there without the other two noticing was a mystery to both of them, but sure enough, there he was - his sea green eyes staring widely at both of them, his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. "What do you know, Cye? I'm a tough guy- I'm not supposed to use my head!" Sage couldn't help but roll his eyes - even tough guys had an image to keep up, he supposed.

"How long have you been there?" Sage asked.

Cye smiled playfully, putting an arm around Kento's shoulder. "Since you decided Rowen was going to change his name to Peggy Sue." Kento, who was much larger than Cye, raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, come on now, Kento, just TRY and tell me that when you took over your little sister's lemonade stand a few summers ago you weren't using that gray blob the Lord gave you at birth- you can use your brain just fine Kento. You ARE smart! You just think the tough guy image suits you better."

"Okay, okay, so I gave her a balance book and tried to put some of the other neighborhood kids on her payroll - I was only trying to help, honest! What if she lost money on her first business venture, huh? She could've ended up a welfare mom with twelve kids and a dead-beat alcoholic husband who can't hold a decent job longer than two days and-"

Sage stared at Kento in amazement as he continued to rant and rave about how the lemonade stand could have ruined his sister's life. _Wow. He's either over paranoid, over protective of his little sister, or. . . smoking marijuana. _Deciding to change the subject, he turned to the bearer of Torrent. "Cye, what are you doing out here?"

"I saw Kento was gone and realized he'd had another nightmare about. . . you know," Cye said quietly. Sage nodded, his eyes telling the bearer of Torrent everything he needed to know. The youngest Ronin Warrior's eyes widened. "Sage, not you, too?" Halo nodded. "But you're so strong, and you meditate, and, well, I guess I thought it wouldn't have affected you like it's been affecting the two of us. Are you really suffering this badly as well?"

Sage lowered his eyes. He didn't like feeling weak when others saw him as strong. Deep inside, he felt himself cringe. "Believe me, Cye, I'm not immune to nightmares. I don't know if they'd say anything, but Ryo and Rowen know. Sometimes I wake up and find myself crying and soaked in sweat. Sometimes Ryo, or Rowen, or both of them, are sitting beside me in bed trying to tell me it's okay, but. . . I can't stand it! I'm supposed to be a man and I'm crying over stupid nightmares!"

Cye lowered his eyes. "What are we going to do to make it stop?" he said. "With school starting up soon, we're in trouble. What if we suddenly have a nervous breakdown in the middle of class or something? We can't tell them it was en evil demon lord! No one remembers any of it! Don't you see? This incident is stopping us from being able to move on with our lives. If we don't find a way to move past this we'll spend the rest of our lives like this."

"Cye has a point- we need to figure out how to end this," said Kento. "Do you remember all of those things we talked about before the second battle? Sage, you wanted to go to backpacking across Europe for a year after high school, and the rest of us were going to go with you. And we did that big name swap thing to plan out who'd be who's best man at our weddings. We wanted to be together for everything - when we got married and had kids, and we would stay together for a long time. I don't want to miss out on all of that!"

Sage sighed and looked up at the sky. "Maybe we should ask Ryo and Rowen about it."

"Yeah, isn't Rowen a genius or something? Maybe he knows a little about it," said Cye.

"Or Mia - she's smart, too," said Kento.

The three boys nodded as they sat in silence under the moon, eventually falling asleep under the stars, each feeling comfort in knowing they were not alone.

* * *

_In the Dynasty. . . _

_Sleep would be really nice. . ._Kayura yawned as she contemplated the tempting notion of sleep. The sweet bliss of slumber had been avoiding her grasp for the past several nights and she was beginning to feel the effects of it. Her body whined, but her duties as the last Ancient seemed to pile up faster than she could handle them. Even the help of Cale, Sehkment, and Dais did little to help.

Of course, they were not in the most luxurious of places to be. She and the three remaining Dark Warlords were currently residing in a cave somewhere in the Nether Realm. More specifically, they were hiding from whatever might have remained of Talpa or his allies and trying to sort through every possible solution to the one question that hung over all of their heads -

What were they going to do NOW?

With Talpa temporarily out of power, Kayura free from his control, Anubis dead, and the other Warlords AWOL, they weren't sure where to go with their lives next. The last member of the Ancient One's clan had decided to look through some old scrolls and documents that her clan left behind while the Warlords patrolled Talpa's old haunt to see if he was going to try and attack again. She and her comrades knew very well that if he was not held back, no one would be able to stop him. She knew she certainly wasn't ready for another battle. The Warlord's were not in a position to fight so soon, either. Lady Kayura imagined the situation was not much different with the Ronin Warriors back in the Mortal World.

Of course, none of that would give Talpa any reason to hold back on attack.

While there was no question that the White Armor of Inferno could DEFEAT Talpa, it alone didn't have enough power to KILL Talpa. DEAFEATING and KILLING were two very different things, and if Kayura was correct, the Ronins would soon enough be fighting a third war against their old adversary. The thing was, they were all still recovering from the two previous ordeals that had happened, all of which occurred over the course of a single month. Each of the five was dealing with his own inner turmoil as they all tried to move on from the horrors they'd seen, especially the three whom Talpa had captured.

Which is why it was important that the Warlords knew what was going on.

Kayura sighed, leaning against the wall of the cave as she sat cross-legged on the floor. She truly felt sorry for Halo, Torrent, and Hardrock. Talpa had subjected them to the Gargoyles, his most dangerous and deadly form of torture - from what Sehkment and Cale had told her, most of the poor souls Talpa had put in there didn't even survive the first round, yet those three were able to survive most than ten sessions! The last she'd seen of them the three had been fine, but she knew that it would only be a matter of time before it finally hit them that things would never be the same again, if it hadn't already.

Kayura soon heard several hurried footsteps and turned to the entrance of the cave, where three very worried and frightened Warlords could be found. "What's going on?" she asked, getting to her feet and grabbing the Ancient's Staff. "Has something happened? Is Talpa back already? It's inconceivable that he could recover this quickly!" The Warlords exchanged a look before turning back to Kayura. She felt a pit form in her stomach. She feared that whatever they had found was going to be WORSE than Talpa's early recovery.

Sehkment was the one brave enough to speak up. "Well, the good news is that Talpa isn't coming back- he's dead."

Kayura blinked at them in curiosity. Talpa being dead was good news - why didn't they look happier? "Does that mean Ronins were able to kill Talpa? Are the Ronin Warriors of this generation really that powerful?" she asked. She cocked her head to the side. "If Talpa's dead, that's a good thing, isn't it? That means he won't be coming back-"

"The BAD news is that it wasn't Ronins who did it," said Dais. Kayura's eyes widened in shock. If something else killed Talpa, they were probably dealing with a power-hungry Dynasty general looking for some leverage. THAT was a problem in and of itself. The real question was WHO had killed Talpa. "We found him trying to resurrect himself from under the rubble of the castle, like he did the last time they beat him. There were Nether Spirits all around, chanting and performing the typical rituals. We were almost ready to lay them to waste when this shadowy figure approached."

"Shadowy figure?" asked Kayura.

Sehkment gulped. "It was Trulpa."

In Kayura's mind, the shit had just hit the fan. "Trulpa? Talpa's sister!" she screamed. The three Dark Warlords nodded, all looking very grim.

"Talpa, or at least what was left of him, looked up at her, begging her for help. Evil demons they may be, but they share the same demon blood. She cast some sort of explosion spell and destroyed what was left," said Cale. "It was. . . horrible. I feel no more loyalty to Talpa, but. . . by the Ancient, that was her own brother! I couldn't have done that to any of my siblings! I would've slit my own throat before I did that, even AFTER I joined the Dynasty. There are some things you just can't do!"

Kayura cringed. "There's more, isn't there?"

"Well, yes," said Dais. "As you know, Talpa and Trulpa split the Dynasty in half when they first instated it- Talpa used most of his spacefor the huge labyrinth maze to train his warriors and soldiers in while Trulpa built the Under City. Now, I know you have no recollection of this, but about a hundred years ago or so they got into a huge fight and stopped talking to each other, but they sure didn't mind doing things to annoy each other. When Talpa ordered the mass genocide of the Amazons, Trulpa offered sanctuary to many of them. Pissed Talpa off for sure. But now Talpa has no control over his domain anymore, being dead and all. And, well, since Trulpa is his only next of kin, she now controls not only her own Dynasty but, well, she controls Talpa's domain as well."

"WHAT?" Kayura demanded.

"It gets worse," said Cale. Kayura's eyes widened even larger than they already had widened.

"Worse? How can it be any WORSE?" she demanded.

Sehkment winced. "On our way back to report to you, we encountered Anubra, one of Trulpa's Dark Warladies. She and a wizard named Osiris were discussing the Ronin Warriors of Halo, Torrent, and Hardrock," he said. Kayura felt a knot form in her stomach as she sat down. "It's possible that Talpa's torture sessions broke THE Barriers of those armor sets."

"THE BARRIERS?" Kayura shouted.

"It sounds like they were making plans to capture them for Trulpa's own purposes. Not only is that going to suck for the Ronins, but if they're right the whole world is in trouble. Broken barriers mean we have three ignorant magical powerhouses walking around the Mortal Realm. If Trulpa gains control over those three before they realize what's going on, then she has a HUGE advantage over the Ronin Senshi," Dais started.

"Great, that's just what we need," said Kayura, throwing her hands up in the air. "Now Trulpa's going to try and beat in her own enemies by using three of their own against them. Isn't it lovely when the badguys come up with a good plan? Because that might actually WORK. We don't know how she'd use them, but there are plenty of ways she can bypass the Law of Dependency and use them to fuel her own army. Worse than that, she KNOWS damn well that I am not allowed to spoon feed them information, the three of you and Ryo and Rowen can't help out at all and there's no way the tigers, no matter how smart they are, can convey that serious a warning."

"You can't say anything?" asked Sehkment.

"As a member of my clan I am forbidden to speak at length to any of the Ronins that inexperienced about their powers, the armors, or their enemies," said Kayura. "But there's nothing stopping Trulpa from finding a way to use captives to further her cause." She turned to the Warlords. "However, it's gotten to the point that we CAN talk with the Ronin Warriors about it. I think it's time we paid them a visit and give them a heads up about Trulpa's plans."

"Good plan," said Dais. "As much as those kids need a break. . . Trulpa's too dangerous right now. We've got to do something, or we're all in big trouble."

* * *

UPDATED OCTOBER 25, 2005 

I wasn't planning on a huge overhaul with the revision, but I had fun changing little details that have been bothering me and re-writing a few poorly worded sentences. Nothing plot shattering. I'm not trying to dance around anything that should be fairly obvious anymore, which was an issue I've had that I've been trying to resolve in my writing as a whole.

UPDATE DONE!

_Dixxy_


	2. Chapter One

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter One: Camping Trip

"Ah, this is a challenge I LIKE. Us vs. Mother Nature," said Rowen brightly as he took in a deep breath. He spread his arms open and spun around happily, laughing as he took in the wonders of the outside world. "Just look around us! Nothing but trees, animals, and fresh air! I love it! This is going to be a GREAT break from reality, right guys? Right?" 

Cye shook head at the rather immature Warrior of Strata as he acted like someone half his age. "It's not really a huge challenge. We have over a week's worth of food with us and matches and other supplies. Our biggest challenge is going to be constructing our tents," he said, pointing at the large, nylon sacks Ryo and Kento were carrying. 

"Yeah, but that can't be too hard," said Ryo, dropping his tent onto the ground. He brushed some hair out of his face and turned to Cye with a wide smile on his face. "Aw, that's gonna be nothing! We just read the directions and start over if they don't come out our way- how hard is that? We can defeat an Evil Dynasty. This can't be TOO hard! We are the Ronin Warriors. I refuse to be believe we can be beaten by a department store tent."

Kento dumped the contents of his tent pieces onto the ground and blinked. "Look at all these parts. . . bah! There's more parts here than there are leftover parts when my dad tries to put stuff together at Christmas! We'll NEVER figure out these directions!" He grunted and looked at Ryo. "Why couldn't we have just taken those snapping motion tents that just pop open?"

"Because what's the fun in that?" said Ryo.

Sage looked at the pieces on the ground, then at Kento and Cye (of whom he'd be bunking with). "Well. . . I guess we'd better get started," he said, bending down to the ground to starting sorting through the instructions and pieces. Hardrock and Torrent quickly followed suit, looking over Sage's shoulders as they, too, tried to get a feel for what they were doing.

Rowen patted Ryo on the back. "C'mon, between you, the leader, and me, the genius, we'll have it up faster than those three can say 'Rowen and Ryo are the greatest Ronin Warriors to ever live'," he joked. This earned him a confused look from Ryo and a raspberry from Kento. 

"Oh yeah? Well there's more of us than there are of you!" Cye retorted.

Rowen laughed. "Yes! Yes! A challenge! A challenge! Come on, Ryo!"

~

__

Three hours later. . .

~

"Stupid piece of crap," mumbled Ryo, beginning to loose his temper with the very stubborn tent. Both "teams" of Ronins were having trouble with the "challenge" of putting up the tent. "You know what? I think Kento's right. We SHOULD'VE bought the automatic setup tents instead of these pieces of junk! Some assembly required my-"

"Yay!" said Cye enthusiastically. Wildfire and Strata looked over at the other team to see, much to their misery, that Halo, Torrent, and Hardrock had successfully been able to set up their tent. Sage nodded at the work with satisfaction while Kento did a victory dance that, as he had planned it, began to wear at Rowen and Ryo's nerves. Cye was clapping enthusiastically. "It's up! After only three hours of work, it's up!"  
Kento paused his dance for a moment and smiled, running over to Cye and hefting the smallest and youngest Ronin over his shoulder. The red head yelped in surprise and looked down at Kento with a look of confusion. "Yup. We sure did. And now you're going for a swim after I throw you in the lake."

"What!?"

"You heard me."

"Kento, put me down!"

"I thought you liked water!"  
"I DON'T LIKE BEING THROWN INTO THE BLOODY WATER!!!"

Ryo couldn't help but laugh at the two. _It's nice to see that at least some things are getting back to normal- Kento and Cye goofing off is a very good sign. But how long is that going to last?_ The unofficial leader of the Ronin Warriors lowered his head and sighed as he remembered the reason for the vacation. Despite what it might've looked like, there was actually a very serious reason for it.

Over the past month, Rowen, Ryo, and Mia had noticed the three younger Ronins were suffering from emotional trauma and shock that must have come from their brief but frightening captivity in Talpa's domain. Naturally, none of them wanted the bearers of Halo, Torrent, and Hardrock to deal with such pain, so Rowen had suggested they take them camping to get their minds off of the trauma. 

Rowen chuckled. "Hey Sage, could ya help me and Ryo out over here?" he asked. 

Sage looked over at Ryo and Rowen, then nodded. "Of course," he said. The bearer of Halo made his way over to the site and slowly picked up the directions, scanning over them with his deep, violet eyes. "Well. . . what have you got so far?" he asked. Sheepishly, Rowen held up a tangled pile of nylon and metal poles. Sage blinked. "Well, I guess I have my work cut out for me. . ."

~

In just a little over a half an hour, their campsite was complete. The two tents were placed next to each other so the Ronins could access each other if need be. A circle of stone sat a few feet away for the campfire, a pile of cooking utensils and food not far off. Their backpacks were lined up against the trees in a neat pile, and a clothes line has been set up for their clothing.

And classically, the boys were at the lake enjoying the water au natural.

"I feel like an idiot," said Sage, refusing to come out of the bush he'd undressed in. 

"C'mon, I DARE you," said Ryo, who was already in the water.

"But skinny dipping is NOT my idea of FUN!" said Sage.

"Chicken!" said Kento, who then began to flap his arms and make chicken sounds. 

"No."  
"Sage, the water's fine!" said Cye. He made ripples in the water with his hand, trying to emphasize his point. "It's nice and warm and relaxing. . . don't tell us that you expected to come out here and do nothing! We came out here to have some fun, and swimming counts as fun!"

"You're lavishing in this. It's your element. My element is light. I'd rather tan on the beach in my boxers than go swimming NAKED!" said Sage, looking and sounding desperate as he crossed his arms over his more personal parts. "It's undignified and wrong and immoral and-"

"Aw, c'mon, it's not like you're different. We all have the same stuff, it won't be a big deal," said Rowen, dunking his own head. He emerged several seconds later and shook her head, spraying water everywhere. "The doctors all told our mommies and daddies that we were boys, right?"

"Aw, what's a matter, Sage-y baby?" Kento teased, bending over slightly and pointing at the reluctant Halo as he laughed and taunted. "Too afwaid to come out and pway with the big boys, are ya? Well fine then- if you want to act like a big baby, go ahead! See if I care!"

Hardrock's taunting worked. And at that, well. "Kento, why I-" yelled Sage, getting angry. He darted out of the bush and ran after Hardrock. Kento laughed as he dove out of the way as Sage leapt into the water after him. Kento smirked and pointed at where Sage was. The blonde Ronin blushed and began to mumble very painful things that he wanted to do to Kento. 

"Glad you finally decided to come in," said Rowen, looking at Sage brightly. 

Cye blinked, looking around. This took the attention off of Sage long enough for the others to ask what Torrent was hearing. Cye had a worried look on his face as he looked at each of them. "Is it just me being paranoid, or do you guys get the feeling we're being, watched?"

"What do you mean- BIRD WATCHER! BIRD WATCHER, OVER THERE, WITH BINOCULARS! BIRD WATCHER!!!!" yelled Rowen, pointing at the bushes that lined one side of the lake. A pair of binoculars in the bushes disappeared as the laughter of a teenage girl rang behind them, crunching leaves and twigs joining in as well. All five Ronins turned bright red.

_That girl saw me naked!_

Nooo!!! I knew this was a bad idea!

Aw, just great!

I don't need this right now. . .

Heh, I wonder what her phone number is. . .

The leader of the Ronins reached for where the collar of his shirt would be had been wearing it, making a pulling and gulping action as he did so. "Um, maybe now would be a good time to quickly get dressed and get back to camp," said Ryo. The other Ronins nodded enthusiastically as they all darted out of the water and began to quickly look for their clothes.

~

Aside from the bird watcher incident, all went by rather well (though next time they went swimming they made sure to be wearing pants). The camping trip was a success. There was hiking along the trails of the forest, where the Ronins were eaten alive by insects and tanned by the bright sun. There were games of kickball and soccer instituted by Ryo, who'd brought along his lucky soccer ball. Then there was the roasting of marshmallows every night for S'mores, which would be a time for the Ronins to share stories and tales about themselves and their lives. 

The last night of the trip was rather quiet compared to the normal, as they were all tired from their week of non-stop activity and it was time to start winding down to return to civilization. Ryo was bouncing his soccer ball off the top of his, Rowen was reading, Sage was sitting quietly with his back to a boulder, Kento was roasting a seven inch long row of marshmallows, and Cye was lying on his back and staring up at the stars.

"Well boys, I guess it's back to civilization tomorrow," said Ryo, dropping his soccer ball into his lap. He sighed dreamily, propping his elbow on his knee and his chin in his open palm. "This has been a GREAT week- we should do this more often. Just us and Mother Nature."

The British Ronin sighed happily, stretching slightly as he continued to look at the starlit backdrop they'd been given. "Can't we stay out here forever?" said Cye. He put his hands behind his head and pulled his knees up so his heels were touching his behind. "This has been fun."

"Yeah, but we have to go back sometime," said Kento. He stuck his tongue out. "Unfortunately for us, society has decided that in order to succeed in life we need to spend most of our young lives sitting in school being taught stuff that we'll never even USE in life unless we all decide to become teachers. I could care LESS about half the stuff they say we need to know- I've seen my dad run his business, and he doesn't use half of what they've us so far."

"Yeah, but they want us to be well-rounded adults," said Rowen.

"Well rounded my-"

Sage coughed, stopping Kento from cursing. "There are other things back home, too, such as our families. I don't know about you guys, but I haven't talked to my family since shortly after I left to fight the Dynasty over two months ago- I bet they're worried about me by now." His voice seemed almost disinterested and moody, though the group didn't seem to notice.

"Ooo, my dad's gonna kill me- he needs a call, too," Rowen said, wincing slightly.

Kento chuckled lightly, looking embarrassed as he glanced over towards Cye. "Ma's going to skin us alive. Saving the world or not saving the world, she's gonna be REAL mad when we give her that call. I can just hear her lecture now- Cye and I will have her voice ringing in our heads for weeks to come."

Ryo laughed. "Then we should all get some sleep so you guys can call your folks before I'm the only Ronin Warrior left," he said lightly. Tucking his soccer ball under his arm, Ryo stood up and walked towards his tent. "G'night, guys- see you all in the morning."

Sage yawned. "I'll agree to that."

"Sleep. . ." Rowen groggily agreed, following Ryo drunkenly to their tent. 

Cye slowly stood up, rubbing his eyes. "See you in the morning," he said, crawling to his tent. He turned his head to Kento, who was looking forlornly between his marshmallows and the tent. "Kento. . . finish those up and then get to bed- we aren't fighting you AND Rowen come tomorrow morning."

"Wanna bet?" Ryo cracked.

"Hey!" Kento snapped. "You guys act like food's the only thing on my mind!"

Sage snorted. "Kento, it would take something REALLY amazing to replace food in your heart," he said. The Chinese Ronin growled dangerously at Sage, threatening to endanger the blonde with excruciatingly painful maneuvers he'd only used on Dynasty soldiers. Still, Sage only smirked wisely and ducked into the tent he was sharing with Cye and the one he was agitating.

"Good night, everyone- see you in the morning!" Rowen said cheerfully.

That would not happen. . .

~

Dun-dun-duuunnnn!!!!!

Marlene: Aw, don't sweat it. Life happens. Well, that would be a bit of a hard story to finish, ya know? I'm glad you liked the conclusion of DC, WD- probably my favorite story in the whole series. For me, the difficulty is every day life and choosing between ideas. THAT is a bitch. Okay.

Harry: Greetings to you, too! Yeah, this one needed work. Badly. But even this original draft wasn't as bad as the FIRST draft of the Senshi series- that just plain sucked. I want to write Yu-Gi-Oh!, but I have no ideas for that series. It would probably be Joey or Yami centric with maybe a little of the under appreciated Tristan thrown in for good measure. I'll let you know if I do.

Yin-Yang: Yeah, I use nightmares a lot, those these nightmares aren't as bad as the ones I gave to Glenn from Chrono Cross. Not by a LONG shot! I was plain cruel to him with those nightmares (think revenge hungry ghost influence). Ouch, you lost your hard drive? Ooo. . . I hope you work everything out.

Osaku: Hiya! How's it going (I met Osaku through school, as he mentions in his review)? No, this isn't exactly a sequel- it's the first part of a longer series, but can be read after the second book- they're interchangeable. Gee, thanks Osaku. Yeah, I saw RW during the summer of 95 when it first came to the states- it took me a while to get used to the names again, too. Slacking off? Maybe, I dunno. You didn't think I could right this well, Osaku? LOL! I take no offense at all! You MUST make my top ten list? Well, at least you're motivated ^_^. My flow is one of my stronger points, yes- I just try to make sense of the ideas that show up in my head and ta-da! New story.

~Dixxy


	3. Chapter Two

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Two: Lady Trulpa

__

. . . Sage. . . 

. . . Come to me. . . 

. . . Sage. . . I'm calling you. . .

Sage awoke with a start. _Voices in my head? Is this some sort of a dream, or is this, somehow, real? _"What?" he said aloud, trying not to wake his two tent mates. He bolted upright in his sleeping bag, looking around to try and figure out where the voice was coming from. To his surprise, he saw Cye and Kento seemed to be hearing things as well. 

_. . . Sage. . . _

. . . come to me. . . 

. . . I'm waiting for you to come to me. . .

"Who's calling me?" Cye asked in a hushed whisper.

"I don't know, but something's calling me, too," said Kento, looking around worriedly. He turned to his tent mates with a nervous gulp. "Should, should we go and check it out, or, or should we just ignore it?" He whimpered. "I am NEVER eating marshmallows right before bedtime EVER, EVER again!"

"If I'M hearing them, too then it isn't your bloody marshmallows!" Cye snapped.

"I don't know," said Sage, getting the attention of his fellow Ronins. He shook his head. "It's happening to me, too. Something's calling us, and I don't think we should just ignore it and entertain thoughts of it going away. Let's get dressed and then go check it out. But make sure you have your armor orbes- we don't know what's out there."

"Right."

"All right."

Quietly, the three dressed, not saying a word to one another. Once they were finished, the crept out of their tent and silently went to check on Ryo and Rowen. Much to their dismay, neither of the two elder Ronins seemed to have their problem, each dreaming about fantasies they had, such as winning a Nobel Prize and a World Cup Championship. 

"I don't like this," Sage whispered. "But it looks like this 'thing' wants us and us alone." They left the other tent and stood outside for a few seconds, looking at each other with worry. With one final nod, the blonde bearer of Halo led his comrades through the woods to where he thought the voice was coming from.

_. . . Yes. . . _

. . . This is the right way. . .

. . . Come closer. . .

. . . Warmer. . .

. . . Warmer. . .

"NO! DON'T GO ANY CLOSER!"

The three Ronins nearly jumped out of their skin at the sudden should. They turned to see Lady Kayura and the three remaining Dark Warlords standing before them, Kayura holding the Staff with one hand and using her free hand as a stopping signal. "IF you go any closer you'll all be in danger!"

"Why? What's going on?" asked Kento.

"You have to go back and get Ryo and Rowen- that voice you're hearing is Lady Trulpa, Talpa's sister," said Dais. He stepped forward. "She's a very dangerous woman, just like her brother was, and she's after the three of you! Get out of here before she gets you! If she goes near you. . . we don't know WHAT she'll do?"

Sage held up a hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Could you please tell us what's going on here? The three of us heard voices in our head calling us somewhere and we decided to investigate. You guys seem to know what's going on, so please tell us- why are we hearing their voices?"  
"It's a trap, you idiots!" Sehkment hissed. "She's after you three! We don't know why she's after you, but she is and because of that you're all in danger! Just like her brother she's something to be reckoned with, so I'd highly suggest you all run before something bad happens!"

"Too late!"

Before anyone knew what was happening, the cracking sound of a whip could be heard. The three Ronins and Kayura turned their heads to see the three former Warlords bound by a three-ended whip, a woman in a grey-blue subarmor holding the whip tight. Crimson red lips curled into a grin as she placed a subarmored foot on Sehkment's back, causing the green-haired warlord to cry out. "Fools."

"Who is THAT!?" asked Kento.

"Let them go!" Cye demanded. 

"She's one of Trulpa's Warladies. Her name is Anubra, and she's the Dark Warlady of Cruelty- Anubis' partner in arms," said Kayura. The last Ancient raised the Staff, pointing it at the offensive woman. "Anubra! What are you doing here!?" she demanded. "What business do you have here?!"  
Anubra tossed her hair back, not seeming too threatened by Lady Kayura. "My business here is to complete my lady's orders- is there a problem with that, Kayura, or do I need to get rid of you to do so?" she said in a mock sweetness. Kayura growled dangerously, gripping the Staff more tightly than she had before.

WHAM!

Sage and Cye split when they heard something coming from the woods and watched as a blonde man in jeans and a T-shirt wrestled Kayura to the ground. He placed a hand over her mouth and threw the Staff aside. He turned to the three Ronin Warriors, a dark grin on his face. "So, these are the three Ronin Warriors that Trulpa told me about?"

"What?" asked Cye.

"It doesn't matter! Let's take these two clowns out before something else happens!" Sage said. He drew his armor orbe out of his pocket and took the lead. By this point it was obvious the pair they'd encountered was dangerous and that it was time to fight it out.

KA-ZAP!

All three Ronins stopped to scream, falling to their knees as the dark energy hit them. Sage looked behind him to see a tall, white haired woman in a black dress slowly making her way over to the group. Thin, red eyes skimmed over the seven captives as she folded his arms. She nodded, and snapped her fingers. "Good work, you two. I didn't expect Lady Kayura and the Warlords, though I suppose that I would have needed to capture them as well sometime in the future."

"Capture!?" Kento demanded. "What the hell do you want with us!?"

The white haired woman chuckled, bending down to Kento's level. "Oh, don't worry, you'll find out soon enough, Hardrock," she said. She chuckled as she pulled herself back up, turning to the two attackers. "Osiris, Anubra, we'll be returning home with our catch. Come!" The woman snapped her fingers, and a dark mist began to rise from the ground.

And, for the three Ronin Warriors, everything went black. 

~

Sage groaned. He was tired, but his body seemed to be forcing him to wake up. "Ugh. . . what happened to me?" he said, half-sitting up on one arm and placing a hand against his forehead. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and, as he got a look at his new and strange surroundings, sat up straight, whipping his head around in fear and confusion. He didn't know where he was!

Halo tried to calm down- panicking would do him no good. He looked down and saw he was bare-chested. Sage's eyes widened in surprise as he discovered that his chest wasn't the ONLY thing that was bare. Embarrassed at his nudity, he pulled the blankets around him closer, trying to gain security from the strange cloth. Sage looked around and breathed heavily, terrified of his surroundings.

Not to say his surroundings were frightening, just unusual. For starters, he had woken up on a large, canopy bed that had been furnished with green silk sheets and curtains, which had been pulled aside. The room he was in was a very elegant looking bedroom with dark brown chairs and bureaus made of very expensive looking woods. The carpet was a bright emerald and, from what he could see, was very soft and woolly. There was also a desk, some books, and a fireplace with an inviting looking green fire. 

Sage stood up, bringing his only means of covering himself with him. His eyes caught a glance of a green bathrobe off to the side. He quickly grabbed it to his nude form and put it on after dropping the sheet to the floor. He then began to explore the room on foot, trying to get a better idea of where he was. Sage wasn't too surprised to find no door, considering that he'd presumably been captured by Lady Trulpa. _The woman with the white hair must be her,_ he mused. 

"Why am I here?" he breathed.   
"Because, Sage, you're now mine."

Sage spun around to see the white haired woman- Lady Trulpa- was standing behind him. He yelped in surprise and pulled his bathrobe tighter around his form. He glared at her with demanding eyes, voicing the most important questions on his mind. "What do you want from me? Where am I?"

Trulpa laughed, seeming amused by his dislike of his situation. She casually sat in one of the chair, crossing her legs as she did so. "You're in my castle. I have many rooms like this one for extra special visitors, guests, and residents. Your friends each have their own room as well. You three are my guests."

"Or prisoners," said Sage coldly.

The evil demon woman smiled, flicking her hair behind her shoulder as she continued to look at Sage in interest. "Perhaps so, but you and your two friends are now permanent residents of my Evil Dynasty. Oh, now don't give me some look that says your other two friends will come for you or that you won't obey me. Your friends WON'T come, and even if they did, they would never get very far. And you WILL learn to obey me in time."

This irritated the blonde as he clenched a fist and took a fighting stance. "I will not fight for you! I am a Ronin Warrior, and if you think for one minute I'm going to be some kind of a Dark Warlord for you you've got another thing coming!" Instinctively, Sage reached for where he would've found a pocket, then remembered his current attire. He blinked in confusion. "What?"

Trulpa threw her head back and laughed. "No, no, no, you aren't going to be a Warlord by any stretch of the imagination. And I know what you were looking for." Sage took on a pained look. "I've taken your armor orbes for safe keeping. You are no longer Sage of the Halo. You'll find out soon enough that you and your friends will never be the same again."  
Sage glared at the woman in disbelief. _No! This can't be happening! This is all just a bad dream, or, or. . . _ "I'll be meeting with you and your friends later. Until then, I'd suggest you have something to eat. I promise you it isn't poisoned or enchanted," she said, then, she vanished, leaving Sage afraid and alone.

~

Aw. . . poor boys. 

Guys, guess what? DRAGONIA WAS UPDATED!!!! Yes, yes, yes it was! Whoo-hoo!

Split Persona: o_O woo. . . two at once. Yes, pain and torture makes good fanfiction. Who wants to read a story with no conflict? Wait, don't answer that question. We mustn't forget about lemons and limes, now can we? Plot twist? HERE'S UER PLOT TWIST! BWAHAHAHA!!!

Marlene: It doesn't have to be. Most of my stuff doesn't revolve around humor- yes, some lines are humorous, but most of my concentration is on more serious things. _End of Innocence_ revolves around rape and teen pregnancy. _Thieves_, a _Chrono Cross_ fanfic I'm writing, is an AU about how some of the characters from the game lead a very, very different lifestyle that's a far cry from what I threw at them. And, even with all the sick jokes and one liners in this series, _The Age of Legends_ is LOADED with seriousness. Just look at some of the character backgrounds and the three stories following _The Armor of the Soul_. Very bad things happen. I read that, and to be all honest with you, I felt it was a bit rushed. You shouldn't feel pressure to whip out things as fast as you can no matter how much your readers may want more. They'll be more pleased with something that took you two weeks of hard work to write rather than something you threw together in one night. Maybe it WASN'T rushed, but it just FELT like it was rushed- things went a bit too quickly for my liking, anyhow. But I'm only one person. 

Kar-chan: Yeah, they're probably my favorite pairing out of the whole bunch, too. In fact, don't be surprised to see more stories revolving around them- I'm far from DONE with the series, because in addition to Ryo and Rowen meeting up with the Senshi and the boys, there's so much more that can be done. Hmm. . . I can actually see that for some reason ("The hills are aliiiivvee. . . with the sound of muuussiiiiiic. . ."). Raw garlic? Hmm. The vampires won't go near you, then.

Yin-Yang: *sighs dreamily* Wouldn't we all? Yes. . . video camera. . . nah! Web cam! Share it with the rest of us! 

Robin: Hey, this is a multi-part fanfic! It's far from over! And, actually, Cye, technically, IS Japanese. Or rather Shin is Japanese. In the original Japanese version, the only two who WEREN'T Japanese were Shu (Kento) and Seiji (Sage). Shu is Chinese and Seiji is only half-Japanese- I read somewhere that people who are only part Japanese aren't considered Japanese at all in at least some parts of Japan. Also, you have to realize that most of the RW content on the net is fanfiction, and that relies a lot on the author. Some view him as Australian (he does say "mate" in one episode) and you can always go ahead and say he's Welsh or something along those lines. 

~Dixxy


	4. Chapter Three

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Three: Aftermath of Talpa's Battle

_Well, this sucks,_ Kento thought miserably to himself. After awakening in a strange room he assumed was in the Dynasty (and NAKED none the less), he had been visited by Trulpa, which was humiliating to say the least considering his undesirable state of not being clothed. Shortly after he left he saw some temple robes folded neatly on a nearby dresser, which he quickly put on just in case someone else decided to walk in on him. But that hadn't happened.

Considering the lack of anything to do, the Warrior of Earth had decided to lay back on the bed in the strange, door-less room and try to get some rest. He didn't think the odds were in his favor that he'd get through this without a LOT of pain and some form of suffering, so he might as well enjoy the quiet while it lasted. Quiet, he had learned, was good. Quiet didn't always mean boring like he originally thought. Quiet meant he wasn't hearing himself and his friends screaming and begging for mercy as the hands of some unknown Dynasty torturer. Quiet meant he wasn't trying to avoid getting skewered by a Tin Soldier. Even though he'd learned it the hard way, Kento was beginning to see a different side of silence that he liked.

But of course it wasn't that easy. Kento couldn't help but worry about Sage and Cye, who he just KNEW were in the Dynasty somewhere. He wasn't sure about Ryo and Rowen, but he had a funny feeling they weren't there. _But why just go after three of us? Why not get us all?_

_Why the long face, Hardrock?_

Kento bolted upright- he didn't SEE her, but he could HEAR her. "TRULPA! SHOW YOURSELF YOU WITCH!" The young Ronin clenched his fists- he knew he had a temper problem, but in this situation he saw some good reasons to be mad as a hornet. Being kidnapped wasn't quite his idea of a good time.

_I don't want to._

Kento rubbed his temples. This lady was irritating. "What do you want?"

_Don't you care to know why I've taken the three of you into my home?_

"Quite frankly, no- I'd rather get the hell out of here."

_I'm afraid that's not an option. So, unless you want to know what your spleen looks like I would suggest you step into the mist that's about to show up in your room- it will bring you straight to my throne room. If all goes well your little nitwit friends will be there as well._

Although the thought of someone calling Sage a "nitwit" was amusing, Kento realized there was real danger here. He didn't have the slightest clue where his armor orbe was and he had a funny feeling that Cye and Sage didn't have theirs, either. _Trulpa might be smarter than Talpa- even though he drained our powers we still had enough to do something! If she has our armor orbes we're sitting ducks!_

A distant swirling sound came into the room. Kento saw a deep purple smoke forming in the corner of his room, obviously the mist that Trulpa had spoken off. The Warrior of Hardrock looked at the swirling, colored air. "What the hell? I've got nothing to loose at this point," he said aloud, stepping towards the mist. Taking a deep breath, he stepped in as a gloomy thought entered his heads.

_I have nothing to loose because I have nothing._

~

Cye coughed and gagged as he finally felt the smog around his dissipate. He'd fallen to his hands and knees, trying to rid his lungs of the awful stuff. _I think I've had an easier time breathing in a smoking lounge,_ Cye thought bitterly. Once his coughing fit ceased, he awkwardly got to his feet and nearly fell over, only to be caught by someone behind him. The youngest Ronin looked up to see that Sage and Kento had caught him. 

"You all right, Cye buddy?" Kento asked, brushing off Cye's new apparel. Cye nodded absently, looking around the room they found themselves in with a sort of timid curiosity. His two friends soon joined in the wonder of this new environment, each trying to take it in.

The room was a sort of grand hall with an arched ceiling. The walls and ceiling were all black, but a lush red carpet laid underneath. Ominous candles lined the walls, emitting creepy green flames that flickered with a sort of primal dance. At the end of the hall they could see an extravagant golden throne with a figure sitting daintily on it. 

"That must be our hostess now," Sage said dryly.

"What do we do?" asked Cye. By then the group had formed a loose huddle to discuss their latest predicament. "That woman's as mad as Trulpa- without our armor orbes we can't do very much to try and escape. Unless we can find them, SHE'S in control of this situation."

"Then why the hell are we standing around here talking about it? If we find our armor orbes and bust outta here then we can make her pay!" Kento said, slamming his fist into an open palm. "I'd like to Iron Rock Crush this castle if you don't mind. And even if my idea doesn't work Ryo and Rowen are probably on their way already, right?"  
"While I HIGHLY disagree with Kento's idea to try and-"

"MOVE IT!!!"

All three Ronins jumped from surprise at the sound of the shout. They could feel the anger boiling up inside the demon woman, and, not wanting to upset her, rushed over towards the golden throne. They stopped a few yards away from her, where she was smiling in a meek yet sadistic manner.

"Good- I was wondering what was taking you three twits so long," she said.

Silently, Kento and Cye volunteered Sage to speak. Halo cleared his throat and glared at Trulpa with determined violet eyes. The demon woman looked on in amused interest. "All right Trulpa, enough with your games. What do you want with us and why are we here?" he asked. 

Trulpa changed her position, lounging across the throne with her knees crossed. "Hmm. So, the monk never told you about me?" she said. The Ronin Warriors shook their heads. "I overheard Lady Kayura speak of me to the three of you before I brought them here. But, I don't think you know a lot about me. Let me educate you. But first. . . to your knees."

Sage snarled. "I'd sooner kiss a rat!"

"What makes you think we'll bow down to you!?" Cye countered.

Kento turned his nose up. "No way in HELL am I gonna bow down to a bimbo!"

Trulpa scowled and raised her hand. A bright flash of energy later saw all three Ronin Warriors kneeling before her throne. None of them looked happy with her cheap parlor trick, but none of them could move from the position no matter how hard they struggled. Her expression calmed and she retreated back to her relaxed position. "Ah, thank you. Now, where was I? Oh yes. As Kayura informed you, I was Talpa's sister."

_Gee, you'd think we haven't figured that out by now,_ Cye thought bitterly.

"My brother and I were alike in some ways," she said, standing up from her throne as she began to walk and talk, idly reminiscing about the past. "We were normal demon children- Talpa had the nerve to leave puppies and kitties in my room and I set him up on blind dates with beautiful women- I'm sure you three must know what I'm talking about between siblings. But. . . we BOTH had an armor."

Kento's eyes widened. "You're not talking about THAT armor, are you?"

"The very same," said Trulpa, sitting back down in her throne. She looked over each boy through scarlet red eyes. "Yes, the armor that my brother wore when he attacked the Mortal Realm and lost to the old monk. Yes, the armor that your armors come from. That is the armor I speak of." She leaned back and crossed her legs. "I had an armor like that as well."

The boys stopped to think about this.

"Like my brother, I tried and failed to take over your pathetic realm. I, however, was able to escape with my body intact, as you can all see- Talpa wasn't as lucky, but you knew that," she said. Her face twisted into an angry scowl. "The Ancient had my armor, and do you know what he did with it?" 

The Ronins had a feeling the universal answer was, "I don't know."

"He did EXACTLY what he did the last time- he made nine armors."

THAT got the three Ronin Warriors interested. "More armors?!" asked Sage.

"That's incredible!"

"But why would he do that?" asked Kento.

"Well, he didn't want me to regain the armor with ease, and splitting it into nine pieces is a good way of making sure of that," Trulpa said thoughtfully. "The interesting thing about these armors is that they are, in essence, carbon copies of your armors. Two Wildfires, two Venoms, two of each of the nine armors."

By now Trulpa had their full attention. Evil as she was, this was interesting.

"There are two major differences between the two sets of armors. One difference is that the armors from my armor can only be worn for an extended amount of time by females, unlike like your armors, which can only be worn for an extended amount of time by males," said Trulpa. "The other difference pertains to the magic they can use. You three are familiar with using attack magic. The female armors use a magic more akin to what you'd call sorcery- it's true name is elemental magic. And THAT is why you three are here."

"Why?" asked Sage. "How does any of that-" 

Trulpa laughed. "You haven't figured it out yet!?" she said. She composed herself and cleared her throat. "These armors are linked, you see- Torrent to Torrent, Halo to Halo, Hardrock to Hardrock, ect. Linked so that partnered armors can't hurt each other and so that the bearers would feel some sort of a connection so they could work together more easily. In addition, the source of these armors is the same, but thanks to a barrier you can only use the magic allowed to the armor."

Cye's eyes widened. "And if something happened to that barrier. . ."

"The armors linked to that source would be able to use all of the magic," Sage finished. 

"But how could that happen?" asked Kento.

"Do you boys remember this?" Trulpa asked, snapping her fingers. Before the Ronins realized anything had happened, they found themselves in exceptional pain. All three lost more of their composure to grab their now throbbing heads and scream in agony. Trulpa laughed in delight as she watched them. Once she felt they'd had enough, she snapped her fingers again and the boys breathed easier. "Bring back any memories?"

Sage looked up at Trulpa with wide, wild eyes. "Talpa's torture. . ."

"Yes- the barriers have broken."

"Then. . . does that mean. . . we can use magic?" Cye asked.

Trulpa nodded. "But of course you'll be using this magic for MY purposes."

"In your dreams," Kento spat bitterly.

"Oh, that's what YOU think, Hardrock," she said. "The only reason I haven't brainwashed you three is because it's easier to learn magic in your normal state of mind. And you WILL learn magic. You will progress your skills with magic and learn to become masters."

"Why would you even care!?" said Kento, looking VERY aggravated with the whole situation. "If anything you shouldn't have even told us that much! Telling the enemy they have an extra power isn't exactly what I'd call a smart move ya dumb bitch! What do you want us to do? Fry you!?"

"You're thinking much too small- I'm not stupid like you are, boy," Trulpa said. Kento growled, leaving Sage and Cye to told him back before he did something they'd all regret later. "You won't be able to, as you put it, fry me. Remember, I have your armor orbes and that will GREATLY hinder your ability to harm me. And with my Dark Warladies keeping watch on you I don't think you'll get much of a chance to get away with that."

"Oh yeah? Well what about Ryo and Rowen?" asked Cye.

Trulpa looked at Cye as if he'd just told her candy tasted like worms. Then, she began to laugh hysterically. "Oh, you don't actually think I'd overlook something like THAT, do you? I surrounded this entire castle with a force field that won't let them sense you. In fact, they can't even sense you now. For all they know, the three of you are dead."

"What!? You're actually making Ryo and Rowen think we've DIED!?" Sage said.

The demon empress nodded. "Well, yes, I have. I can't have them interfering."

"You. . . you. . ." Cye said through gritted teeth.

"The Warlords and Kayura!" Sage interjected.

Trulpa snorted. "I've had them brainwashed. They're completely under my control."

"What!?" Kento said. "How could you do that!? They just gained their freedom!"

"Do I look like I CARE!?" said Trulpa. "They're all well trained- the barriers of the Seasonal armors have been broken for hundreds of years! I don't need to worry about training any of them- they were ripe for the picking, and now they're mine. Is that too hard for you to comprehend?"

"Speaking of control, I find it hard to believe that Talpa will let you gain control over armors that he thinks belong to him, sister or not," said Sage. "If Talpa makes a fuss over it then Ryo and Rowen will be sure to notice something is going on. How do you plan to counter THAT, Trulpa?"

Trulpa rolled her eyes. "I found what was left of Talpa and drained the rest of his powers- he's gone. And now I control his half of the Dynasty as well as my own half- in fact, the whole Dynasty is mine now!" She laughed, kicking her legs like a school girl. Then she calmed and sighed. "It's good to be in charge."

"You killed your own BROTHER!?" said Kento, his eyes wide with shock. Cye and Sage looked at him in shock. Kento sighed. "Yeah, I hated him as much as you did but that's his SISTER. Family. How disgusting do you have to be to want to kill your own family for that kind of a reason? Don't you guys get it?! At the rate she's going with these revelations it's a miracle we're even ALIVE!"

Trulpa sneered. "I wouldn't complain if I were you. You've all seen your rooms- they're very nice rooms. Some of the best in the entire Nether Realm- only the rooms that belong to me and my top ranking officials are nicer. You'll find everything you could need or want there. I will even give you very generous range of my palace- but say too much against me and I'll be sure to make sure your stays are MUCH worse. Even though I know it will hinder your learning processes, I WILL brainwash you and have you kill your friends and families. I think the choice is obvious."

None of the three captives could say anything. 

Trulpa went on as if nothing had happened. She snapped her fingers and a goblet appeared in her hand. She slowly sipped a pale blue liquid. "In your rooms you'll find spell books that pertain to your armors. I'd suggest you learn how to teleport around the Dynasty before you learn anything else. That is, after all, the easiest way to get around. I imagine you'll find it easy- teleporting isn't difficult and it'll be a good start."

Trulpa snapped her fingers once more and the Ronins were surrounded by smoke. All three had a distinct look of panic in their eyes as the black swirled around them and swallowed them up, taking them all away to their different rooms. Trulpa sighed and sat back up in her throne, a catty grin on her face.

~

I can't think of any real good notes here aside from the fact that this ENTIRE chapter was basically scrapped and re-written, which is one reason why it took so damn long to update. Yay.

****

If you're going to leave an unsigned review, please **put your name in the actual review**. For some reason almost all of my unsigned reviews- or what I think are my unsigned reviews- are now listed as signed reviews by Xing, the web master here at FF.Net. I don't know WHY, but that's what it seems to be. Signed reviews should be okay, but I'd put your names in as well.

I looked around FictionPress.Net. It's nice. It's basically the same site without fanfics and a more professional layout. 

Firestorm: Yeah. The first version had some strong points, but where as it's over two years old now (I think. . . yeah, about that) it just needed to be changed. I've grown as a writer and I wanted to add in improvements.

Marlene: That's the whole idea. Humor is very difficult to write. Knowing when to throw in a joke and when not to. . . that's hard to do. My recommendation is to either read a LOT of comedy stories, or, try writing something more on the "serious" side. I'm not saying write the saddest tragedy of all time, but just a general fic. That way you can practice adding in a sprinkling of humor a little bit at a time.

Harry: That's okay- it happens. 

Yin-Yang: I don't think you QUITE need to be as rich as Bill Gates- this is a guy who could buy himself any fancy sports car he wants and to him it would be like one of us buying a pack of gum at the store. Still, you would need a LOT of cash, or some animators willing to work for peanuts. Well, we know what happens to them up to a year and a half later, but yeah, more is to come. By now, Ryo and Rowen have kind of figured it out. If not. . . then they have some other problems that should be dealt with first.

Ginzai: Yeah. . . I love the bird watcher scene. I've noticed the Gaiden thing, too. The only other times I saw it in fanfiction was once in one of Lena Ban Obsidian's fanfics (she had them all mentally bonded to the point where they were talking at the same time and finishing each other's sentences). The other. . . I couldn't tell you the fic because it was basically just a quick "let's not talk about that" kind of deal. Maybe Sage gets so much attention because he's the one who got hit with torture twice. Yeah, I know it's been done a million times- as you can see I threw in some chick Ronins as well. But as the series progresses I think you'll be pleased to see that I have thrown in some very unusual and different flavors. The Seiji being full Japanese thing doesn't seem right. I am almost 99% sure I've seen somewhere that at least one of his parents isn't Japanese. If I find it again I'll leave a link, but quite frankly that's irrelevant to this storyline (you'll understand why in the later stories of this series). Yup, I knew about the historical factors. All of the Troopers come from distinct families in Japanese history- Shu I'm not quite sure on. 

Kar-chan: Eventually, because it's come up so much, Rowen's going to be in a dress. And it could happen in the Ria/Rona focus. Yes, that's right- **Rowen and Ryo are in the Rona/Ria focus story**. Because of the nature of the story Rowen's going to get knocked around a little and the dress would fit in nicely. Movies aren't a bad thing. Personally, I watch a lot of sitcom reruns and SNL. Yeah. Kind of. I want to add in some more scenes (I might have the boys sense some of their forthcoming abilities a little).

~Dixxy


	5. Chapter Four

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Four: Magic

Sage rubbed his temples as he stared at the text in his spell book. Learning all of this magic was going to be harder than he thought. There were so many words and phrases he didn't understand. . . he shuddered and closed the book, then flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling of what was now "his" room. He sighed and whined in complaint.

He guessed that they had now been in the Dynasty for about a week, though it could have easily been longer or shorter. Sage didn't have anything to reference for time and it was irking him. _Odd. I'm a prisoner in a world I've been promised to fight and all I can worry about is what time it is. Am I going out of my mind?_ Sage sat up and leaned against the headboard of his bed. 

During the time he'd been in the Dynasty, however, he did learn a few things. None these things included how to practice magic (the whole teleportation thing was turning out to be harder than he'd expected), but at least he had a better idea of what was going on around him.

Shortly after he'd found himself back in his room after the meeting with his captor, he'd immediately begun to look through the small collection of books on his desk. Most of them were histories of different things pertaining to the Nether Realm and the armors, which had sparked his interest early. Sage had decided to try his hand at the magic later- he didn't have a clue how to even begin. Trulpa could've told him to translate hieroglyphics and gotten better results from him.

For one, he learned that the five armors paired with the Ronin Warrior armors were known as the Ronin Senshi, often times referred to as just the Senshi. From what he could tell about these armors (which right then he couldn't tell much) they were basically the same armors, only female and unable to use sure kills. They could, however, use the magic that he was supposed to be able to use now.

_I wonder. . . Maybe the Halo, Torrent, and Hardrock girls can use sure-kills if we can use magic,_ he wondered. After all, Trulpa claimed that they could use the elemental magic because the barriers broke- why couldn't they use sure kills? Sage grinned at the prospect- hopefully this meant the Senshi would give Trulpa a bigger problem then she expected.

In the same book, he also learned why the Ancient hadn't told them about the female armor bearers. According to the book, the first bearers of the two sets of Ronin armors were trained as a single team and a single unit. The Senshi had great difficulty learning to use their magic while the Warriors had no trouble with their sure kills. This resulted in the females not working as hard with their own magic and relying heavily on their partners. In the end, because of the reliance, nearly all of the Ronins were killed in the first battle. After that, the Ancient chose to forbid the two groups of knowing of each other until they had a firm enough grip on their own powers, which usually meant winning a war, which was a long, drawn out series of battles against a powerful Dynasty demon. The Ronin Warriors had fought two of these wars against Talpa- they were ready to meet the Senshi, but the Senshi probably hadn't even so much as picked up a weapon yet for all he knew. While Sage found the concept a little silly, he realized these were precautions that needed to be taken. The world was different back then, after all. And perhaps there was a connection between the armors that caused this to happen, even when dealing with the most independent Senshi.

And there was still so much he had to learn. So much he wanted to know. 

Sage turned back to the spell book with a heavy heart. The spell book, unlike the other volumes in his room, was huge. It was nearly two feet in length and a good ten inches thick. At first Sage wondered how he'd ever get through the entire book, but apon his first skim through he'd seen the text was fairly large and there were lots of pictures and diagrams. Oddly enough, he found that the language the book was written in could be easily changed on a whim- he could read it in Japanese or English (he was bilingual) if he chose to. Sage wasn't sure if this was the book's magic or his own magic.

Halo went back to the first page of the spell book. In big, bold letters (Sage had decided to study in English that day) the word "Teleportation" ran across the top of the page. Again. It felt as if he'd read that same damn page thousands of times and he was still having trouble with it. Placing his finger on the words, he began to read aloud as the appendage followed along with his voice for what felt like the millionth time.

"Teleportation is a very concentrated yet easy form of magic that requires little more than a strong whim and determination," Sage repeated for what felt like the thousandth time that day. Or hour. Or week. "But that doesn't make any sense! I tried to will myself out of here and nothing happened! You can't just wish yourself away! That's ludicrous!"

_Trulpa probably has something to stop you from teleporting out of her range of control- face it, Sage, you have to teleport somewhere inside the palace, not to Mia's front door,_ he thought to himself. Sage stuck his tongue out at the notion and made a face. Despite the fact that he really didn't have any desire to study any of this magic crap, he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

"Well. . . I need to have a strong whim to go somewhere," Sage said to himself. "But where?" He closed his eyes. "Maybe I should just start out small and teleport to the other side of the room before I try anything else. That way I don't need to worry about getting stuck in the walls or anything." At the mention of the notion, Sage shuddered. He stood and walked to the far end of the room. 

_Maybe if I actually try this it'll work,_ he wondered. Bracing himself against the wall, Sage closed his eyes and envisioned the other side of the room. _I want to go to the other side of the room. I want to go to the other side of the room. Bring me there. Bring me there. _Sage wanted to laugh at himself for the insane thoughts going through his head. Still, he kept at it.

Suddenly, Sage felt as if he were gone.

There was no feeling in his feet, his hands, his legs, his arms, nothing. It was as if he were nothing more than a simple train of thought in. . . nothing. Just nothing. No body, just thoughts. Sage nearly panicked- what had happened to him!? Where was his body!? What was going on!?

Within a matter of seconds, however, the feeling dissipated and Sage found himself crumpled up on the floor at the other side of the room. He was breathing heavily and was gasping, choking for precious air. His brow was sweating and his heart was racing. Sage fell completely to the floor, curled up in the fetal position as he tried to catch his breath.

But through it all, he couldn't help but smile.

He'd teleported.

~

Later on, Sage learned it had been roughly a week into his imprisonment when he'd finally teleported. He was also slightly embarrassed to learn that Cye and Kento had figured it out rather easily on the first or second day, but neither of the other boys had anything negative to say to him on the subject.

The trio met in Cye's room (mainly because Cye had figured out how to get food in his room without waiting for someone else to send it) on what was about day eight. All three sat on the bed as they compared what they'd learned and tried to figure out any ways out of their situation. 

"How far have you guys gotten beyond teleporting?" asked Sage.

"Not very," Kento said. "The first thing I'm supposed to be able to do make some small tremors in a patch of dirt. I'm taking my sweet time on this and milking it out as long as I can get away with it. She's probably going to turn us into mindless zombies like she did with the Warlords and turn us on Ryo and Rowen after we've completed our stupid magic training business!"

"Not necessarily," said Cye. "It would seem like that's what she wants to do but we've only been here a little longer than a week. We should try to investigate a little more to get a better idea of what's going on before we jump to any radical conclusions about anything."

Sage nodded. "Cye's right- this isn't like the war with Talpa. Trulpa's using her head on this one- we need to outsmart her." He coughed. "No matter how much you might not like that, Kento." In response, Hardrock mumbled something in Chinese that Sage was fairly certain translated into some sort of a backhanded insult. Especially from the exasperated look on Cye's face.

Silence reigned for several minutes. Cye quietly got up to retrieve a platter of cookies from a small cabinet in the corner. Kento was tracing circles on the floor with his foot, and Sage had occupied himself with a book on Cye's desk that he hadn't seen in his room. Once the plate was set on the bed, the three began to snack on the said treats.

Halo broke the silence. "The way I see it, we have two options," said Sage. He sighed. "BOTH of which would involve some sort of an escape for obvious reasons. The first we would need to pull off soon, preferably before a month passes. In that case we'd escape, go find Ryo and Rowen, and figure out what to do about the Senshi from there. Face it- we CAN'T leave them alone with Trulpa in control of the ENTIRE Dynasty. Unfortunately it isn't a matter of busting in to help them- I read about something called the Law of Dependency that prevents us from helping them until they've finished one war."

"War?" asked Kento. "You're talking about a bout with a bad guy, right?"

"Yup. Apparently the first generation of Senshi decided to kick back and relax while the Ronin Warriors did all the work- they couldn't get a firm grip on their powers in time and decided to just leave it to the men. The Ancient didn't want that to happen again, so he created that 'rule'. I guess it's considered a major no-no to break it, and I don't think we should risk jeopardizing ourselves and the Senshi."

"And the second idea?" asked Cye.

"Wait for the Senshi to get a firm grip on the powers so the Law of Dependency thing passes. Then we find a way to contact them and ask for help," said Sage. He sighed. "THAT would obviously be the more risky and time consuming path. There's no guarantee they'll know who we are and they may pass us off as a Dynasty trick."

"Great- neither of them sound workable to me," Kento said.

Sage shot Kento a look. "Do you have a better idea?"  
"No, admittedly I don't. But with going back to Ryo and Rowen we're stretched for time- we can't just randomly show up a year from now. Either they'll think we're some kind of a cruel illusion and try to attack us or something, or they're going to go into shock," he said. "If a year passes without them hearing from us they're going to think we're dead, and dead people don't show up at your doorstep to say hello." Sage looked at Kento in surprise- he didn't think that Hardrock thought about things like that.

_And he has a valid point, too,_ Sage mused.

"Let's try to practice our magic a little harder," said Cye.

Kento and Sage stared at Cye in shock and disbelief. "Are you NUTS!?"

"No!" Cye said, glaring at them as if they'd missed an obvious point. "I'm ruddy serious! If you ask me, Trulpa's going to hate it if we're escaped WELL-PRACTICED MAGICIANS instead of PISS-POOR HALFWITS. Get what I'm saying? We could use our magic to help the Senshi once we get out of here!"

"But that could work against us, too! How do we know she won't use that magic to her advantage?" Sage countered. "We can't just assume we'll escape. Trulpa's no idiot. She probably knows we're going to try and escape some time or another. She's going to use us to the best of her ability!"

"Then there's no right or wrong answer, is there?" said Cye. "Why are we arguing about it?! Trulpa wants us to practice the magic anyways, and if we don't then what'll happen to us then!? Sage, we don't have a choice but to go along with her plans for now. And we can't just yell at each other like this. We don't know how long we're going to be here, but the better we get along and work together, the longer we'll be alive, even if it IS in this hell hole. There must be some way out, even if it IS through the Senshi."

"Well, I'M not afraid to ask for help," said Sage.

"Under different circumstances, no, but here? Hell yes!" said Kento.

"Then we're agreed?" said Cye. His companions nodded as he extended his hand. They piled their hands on top of each other, forming an awkwardly large handshake. "We shouldn't worry about it- we'll find a way to get through this. All of us. No one is going to be left behind."

"Never."

"All for one and one for all!"

~

_. . ._

What. . . what is this?

_. . ._

You're hurt, let me help.

. . .

"I. . . I. . . I can't!"

. . .

Just hold on, we'll get there as fast as we can!

. . .

"You're going to be just fine, Kento- I know it."

. . .

"I'm. . . I'm beautiful?"

. . .

"I, I don't want it to end like this."

. . .

"Kento . . ."

. . .

"If I can help it, I won't let anyone ever do that to you again."

. . .

"Please, just hold me."

. . .

"I don't want this to end."

. . .

~

Kento bolted awake, his eyes wide from confusion. His heart was racing and his palms were sweating. He sat up, the bed sheets pooling around his waist. He looked down at his lap, closing his eyes as he flopped back onto the bed. He groaned, wondering where that dream had come from.

"Who was that girl?" he wondered aloud. "And why did I dream about her?" Kento sat up again and placed his feet on the floor. He stood, looking around his room in Trulpa's castle. He quickly grabbed his night robe, wrapping it tightly around his body as he looked around nervously. 

Kento sat back down on the edge of his bed. _You have no one to blame but yourself, Kento. If you hadn't been such a stubborn jackass during the wars with Talpa you wouldn't be here right now. Maybe Sage and Cye wouldn't be here right now, either. You'd all be back in Japan with Ryo and Rowen and Mia and Yuli and your families instead of this hell._

"I'm so sorry. . ." he said to no one in particular. "I'm worthless." He lowered his head and narrowed his eyes. "They don't need me. I'll just get in the way!" He clenched his eyes shut. "I've always cared so much about fighting, and now my life is ruined because of it! We're never going to get out of here in time to avoid a scandal! If I show my face to my family again they'll never believe it's me!"

The voice from his dream echoed in his head, resonating in a crystalline glory that calmed and comforted the Warrior of Hardrock. _"You're going to be just fine, Kento- I know it."_ Kento looked up, clutching the cloth by his chest as tears streamed down his cheeks. He didn't know why the voice was haunting him so much, but it made him feel relaxed and calmed him. He crawled back under the sheets after hanging the robe on its hook, curled up with the blankets, and tried to get to sleep.

_Just hold on . . . we'll get there as fast as we can. . ._

~

Well, that was a little long, now wasn't it?

I'm assuming we all have a good idea on what that last bit with Kento was about.

I've got a lot on my plate right now, but I think I know how I'm going to ease it up a little. For one, I'm nixing _Dragonia_- AGAIN. In that story I'm creating a whole society and a whole world- that's a lot of information, a lot of which I'm still trying to figure out myself. So until I figure out EXACTLY how I'm going to work it out, I'm not going to even BOTHER with that story. The good news is I'm closing in on a final design, which includes something for Ryo to do and a basic idea for the Dragon Kin capitol. I've also come up with a few more terms to help sort the Dragon Kin hierarchy a little bit better. But don't worry- I think I have a better grip on things.

I've also got two working concepts for the Ria/Rona story, and I want you guys to vote on them and offer me some ideas:

Idea #1- Someone frames Ria and Rona for MURDER!!! Even worse, they're in a foreign land. Even more worse, it seems like everyone wants to hang them. Even WORSE AGAIN, they're being hunted by a certain blue-haired Ronin of Strata. But hey, at least Ria's Wildfire in Shining Mystical Armor believes them!

Idea #2- Ria wakes up to the unpleasant surprise of a giant lizard thing attacking her. She and Rona discover they're called Shadow Stalkers, minions of a large army that's out to take the Mortal World. To make matters even worse, the Stalkers have already taken the other Ronins and anyone else they could turn to for help!

I got onto a second page of writing EoIv2.0!!! Go me!!!

Harry: It been long time- many moons. Yeah, CoC needed work. Out of all the stories, it was the weakest, though RSL needs some tweaking as well. A LOT of tweaking. But we'll tweak. I think I tried looking at (your story) it but I couldn't get into it- gomen.

Kaci: You betcha! Hey, hold your horses! I'm working on it! And you should lay off the sugar if you're gonna react like THAT ^_~.

Iluvrikku12: o_O Aren't you one of my CC readers? Either I'm getting you all mixed up now or you just wandered over here. Ah well. That's okay- I've been busy, too. We all get busy sometimes, you know? But I'm trying to get back into it.

Narijima: After a long wait, here's the next part. ENJOY! BE FREE!!!

Evil Penguin Plushie: *laughs* Your name reminds me of this guy I used to know in school. Even the plushie part. Long story. And you want Sage torture? May I recommend _Gaiden_ for some good Sage/Seiji bondage scenes?

Okay, we're all sick of waiting for this chapter to go out, so. . . GO! GO LITTLE CHAPTER GO! RUN LIKE THE WIND!!!

~Dixxy


	6. Chapter Five

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Five: Bittersweet Sixteen

I'm drowning.

Never before had Cye felt at danger in the water. For him, the water was always a place of safety and refuge. Even when he still lived in England he was in the water whenever he could manage it. Being surrounded by his element (though there was a time he didn't know it was his element) always made him feel at peace.

But now the water was suddenly a place of danger. He was being weighed down to the ocean floor, and his ability to breathe under water (a perk of being the Warrior of Torrent) was beginning to fade. He was struggling against the invisible weights, screaming out for help that would seemingly never come. Bubbles escaped from his mouth, floating towards the distant surface, a place that Cye desperately wanted to be.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Cye felt arms snake across his shoulders as a head nuzzled into his neck. Soft hands rubbed his shoulders and back, gently stroking his arms. Cye gasped in surprise at the notion and turned to see who, or what, had suddenly come to him.

Large pink eyes stared back at him with a playful charm. Cye's own eyes widened as the figure backed up to reveal a girl not much younger than he was. Deep blue tresses floated around her head like an angel's halo as slightly tanned limbs waded in the water before him. She swam closer, holding his chin up with her hands. She smiled cheerfully, appeared to giggle, and swam closer to Cye, cuddling closer to him.

Cye stared at the girl in wonderment, wondering who- or what- she was. She didn't have any fins or gills, so he didn't think she was a mermaid of any sort. But something about her made him feel safe in the water. His breathing was suddenly coming back to him and his second home felt like a home again. Carefully, Cye returned the embrace of the girl.

"Don't be afraid," she said softly. She looked into his eyes once more, smiled brightly, and giggled. "You're too strong for that!" Cye looked at her in disbelief. She laughed. "Don't act so surprised! You are strong, Cye- stronger than you think you are. Remember that, now." As she said those final words, she began to fade away. . .

"WAIT!"

Suddenly, Cye found himself sitting upright in his bed, his eyes wide in surprise. His heart rate was up, his breathing was a serious of quick gasping and exhaling, and he felt far warmer than he was used to. He placed his hand on his forehead, closing his eyes as he tried to comprehend the strange dream he'd just had.

"What was that? Who was that girl?" he wondered aloud. He stuck his tongue out. "I've been in this realm for far too long. Bloody hell, when am I getting out of here?" Cye sighed in frustration. "No point in complaining about it- no one here can help us get back home."

It had now been around one and a half months since Trulpa kidnapped Cye and his friends. And what those WONDERFUL one and a half months had been! Their captor thought nothing about randomly doing something awful to them just for the sake of being cruel. Sage and Kento refused to talk about their ordeals, which Cye could understand. Some of his ordeals had included acid baths and being force fed some disgusting concoctions that he had no names for.

At one point someone had been thoughtful enough to give them each a calendar of sorts, though he wasn't sure why. It was a plaque that changed the date by itself, though Cye had no idea how accurate the date was. Still, it was SOMETHING to go by. At this point, they reasoned,

"October 14," he said. His eyes widened. "It's Sage's birthday today."

That it was. Sixteen years ago on that day, Sage Date had been born into the world. Cye smiled briefly at the thought, then frowned. Yes, it was his friend's birthday, but it wasn't going to be a very HAPPY birthday. Out of all the places and ways that Sage could've spent his sixteenth birthday, Cye was fairly certain the Dynasty was at the bottom of the list, if not very near close to the bottom.

Cye groaned in frustration. Poor Sage. This was going to be hard on him.

Sage certainly didn't need to Cye to tell him that.

Sage awoke on the morning of his sixteenth birthday with a backache and an overall sick-to-his stomach feeling. He stood up, moaned, and stumbled towards the bathroom. His legs felt as if they'd suddenly turned to Jell-O as his body swayed back and forth across the room. Sage grasped the edge of his dresser and slid to the floor, his bare back against the cool wood.

"Many happy returns of Sage's 'birthday'."

Sage turned his head quickly to see Trulpa standing over him, a snide grin on her face. Quickly, the boy brought his legs into his chest to try and hide his nakedness from his captor. He stared at her fearfully, his eyes wide in terror. His body quivered, and his palms began to sweat from nervousness. "What. . . what do you want?"

"Why, I just wanted to congratulate you for completing another year of life. I bet that after all you've seen and done you should be very proud for making it this far!" she said sarcastically. Trulpa sneered. "You've grown into such a tall, handsome young man- bet those Mortal World girls would have LOVED to spread their legs for you. After all, someone with such supreme breeding as yours must be worth something."

Sage felt his stomach sink. Did she KNOW!?

Trulpa scoffed. "I know your little secret, SAGE. I hear the three of you talking in your sleep quite often. I know some secrets of yours that the three of you are afraid of anyone finding out. I even know that this day, to you, is nothing more than a superficial symbol."

His face went white. Trulpa snapped his fingers, and suddenly Sage was on his feet. He jumped away slightly, covering himself as his captor began to circle him. "What does that have to do with ANYTHING!? I am who I am, and I don't see why you give a rat's ass about it."

Trulpa laughed as she glided a pointed nail across Sage's shoulder, creating a shallow cut that slowly dripped crimson blood. "Face it, Sage. Somewhere along the lines someone decided you were worthless. Those who took pity on you lied to you. No one truly gives a damn about you. You really are just a worthless little weasel. For all the rest of the world could care, you could just sell yourself as a prostitute on the streets of your own world or mine. It isn't like your parents would care."

Trulpa's words stung Sage. Even though he knew deep down inside Trulpa was just toying with his head to try and break his spirit, he was still shaken and hurt by her words. Everything that she was saying- save some of the dirtier thoughts- were all things he'd thought about himself since he'd learned the truth. He'd felt betrayed and worthless several times over- maybe even the thought that he wasn't quite "good enough". After all, he'd been a very sickly child and because of how different he looked he'd get odd stares from the children at school on a regular basis.

Seeing that she'd shaken him up, Trulpa waved coyly at Sage and disappeared in a puff of smoke, Sage crumbled back onto the floor and hugged himself. Tears were now pouring down his face. Even if he and his friends DID escape from the Nether World, would he have a home to return to? He was still furious with his parents over what they'd kept from him and he didn't want to go back there.

Slowly, Sage got back to his feet and braced himself against the dresser. He gazed into the mirror, and reached out to touch his reflection. Trulpa was right about one thing- he was certainly tall and, though he didn't want to sound conceited, he could admit that God had been very kind to him in the looks department. Even when un-brushed his buttery blonde hair seemed to shine and give off a light of its own. And as frightening as a lot of people thought his eyes were, there was a certain mysterious look them that had always reminded Sage of those detective movies from the age of film noir. And his pale features- though they weren't sickly pale, his features were light in color with a very delicate look to them. More over, there HAD been a lot of girls who had tried to get into his pants in the past (and he had lost his virginity to one of them the year before) and he was certain that there were probably plenty of rich perverts who would have loved to use him as a quick screw.

His eyes lowered, and his eyes caught site of the small razor blade that he used to chop up herbs and spices for teas and spells. Slowly, he picked it up and examined the edge in the light. It glistened, showing off its sharpness and smoothness. Sage held it in his hands as suicidal thoughts began to enter his head. This little blade could be his only escape from Trulpa's hell hole. From his whole, meaningless existence.

Quickly, he pressed the blade against the base of his palm.

"SAGE!"

Startled, Sage dropped the blade to the floor before so much as a puncture was made in his skin. He felt strong, firm hands grip his shoulders and spin him around to face the wide, worried, and ANGRY eyes of the Ronin of Justice. "What the HELL were you thinking!? Don't you DARE try to tell me were weren't thinking of killing yourself because I'll KNOW you're lying to me!"

"I. . . I. . ."

SMACK!

Sage stumbled backwards from the second shock in the last minute, crashing his back into the corner of the dresser. He cried out in pain as his crumpled to the floor in a sobbing, hysterical fit. "I'm so sorry. . . I'm so sorry. . ." he blubbered, staring up at Kento through helpless, tear-soaked eyes.

Gently, Kento knelt down beside Sage. "What were you thinking?" he said more softly than his had before. He reached over to Sage's shoulder, swiping his finger across the light cut Trulpa had made early. Kento held up the finger to show Sage the blood. "You didn't do that, did you?"

"No," he said. "Trulpa did."

"Trulpa?" said Kento. He leaned in closer to Sage, inspecting the wound. "I can understand why Trulpa would hurt you in the first place, but this is barely a scratch. Why something so. . . Sage, what else did she do to you!?" Looking Sage up and down, he watched as Kento's face took on a slight green shade. "She didn't. . . rape you or nothing, did she?"

"No," he said. "She just kind of. . . talked about something."

"What?"

"Something I don't want to talk about. It's personal."

Kento sighed with audible impatience. "Sage, I know we've never been that close but I'm still your friend. You can tell me what it is. I can even keep it from Cye if it would make you feel better, but I can't help you if I don't know what's troubling you. And I want to help you."

Sage thought about this. "I. . . family problems. Can I leave it at that?"

Kento fell back on his haunches, thinking this over. "Okay. Fine. Family issues. I can see where a guy can sensitive about something like that." He sat up, folded his legs into the classic "Indian" position, and took Sage's hands. "I don't know what kind of a family problem would drive you to suicide, but whatever you do don't kill yourself. Whatever it is you can work it out. Okay?"

"Not this one. The damage has already been done," said Sage, still shedding tears.

Kento wiped a few of the tears away. "You'd be surprised."

Sage snorted. "So would you."

The other boy shook his head and stood up, helping Sage to his feet. "What you need is a nice hot bath, especially where you've just gotten a little beat up. The warm water will make you feel a little better. And I know you value your privacy, but I'll be damned if I leave you in there alone in your shape. Understood?"  
"Yeah," said Sage, putting his arm around Kento's shoulder for support. "Thanks."

"No problem. And sorry for hitting you."

"Don't worry about it."

* * *

"Ah. . . a masterpiece if I do say so myself!"

Cye stared proudly at the cake before him. On a mix of an impulse and a desire to bring some cheer to the gloom that he and his friends had face, the Ronin of Torrent decided that a birthday cake would be the perfect thing to bring a little bit of happiness into their lives. Although it didn't look very fancy, the frosting was a simple mint cream in color, though it had more of a butter cream taste to it instead of mint. And the cake itself was a golden vanilla that was so rich and thick it was like eating a piece of heaven. Cye knew all this because he's used the extra batter and frosting to make himself a cupcake, which he decided tasted very good.

His project completed, he picked up the tray the cake sat on and teleported from his room to Sage's. A smile on his face and the cake in hand, Cye proudly stepped forward. "Happy Birthday, Sage! Look, I made you a cake! I hope you like- Sage? Kento?"

Lying asleep on the bed, the covers wrapped around his tall, slender form, was Sage. Kento was sitting on the edge of the bed, gently rubbing the other's back. Bewildered as to what was going on, Cye rested the cake on an end table and sat down on the other side. "Kento? What's going on here? Is Sage all right?"

"Yeah, I think he'll be all right now," said Kento.

"What happened?" asked Cye.

"Trulpa messed with his head," he said. "He. . . got a few dumb ideas in his head. But he should be fine, now." Kento brushed off his pants and turned to Cye. "Don't worry too much about it- he's gonna be all right. I'm just gonna keep an eye on him for a while."

* * *

Sage found himself on a rainy street somewhere in the Mortal World. It was night out, and he was lying underneath a street lamp on a city park bench. He saw a lot of tall buildings around, but no signs of where he actually was. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw he was wearing normal Mortal Realm clothing. Jeans, a T-shirt, a button-p shirt tied around his waist, and ankle high brown boots graced his body. "Am I. . . am I free!?" he asked aloud.

No answer. He didn't see anyone around. Confused and curious, Sage started to walk in a random direction. Maybe if he could find someone, then perhaps he could find a way out. Even if he wasn't sure how he'd gotten there, it certainly beat Trulpa's castle. Even so, a certain sense of gloom and isolation hung in the air like smoke in a bar.

Sage felt a small hand tug at his shirt. He looked down to see a little girl looking at up him through wife, terrified eyes. She didn't look so good, Sage though. Her long blonde hair was matted and tangled, even in its ponytail, and the skin that showed was splotched in dirt and soot. Her feet were bare and her limbs were skinny. The only thing she was wearing was a night shirt a little to big for her with the neck hanging so low it reached past one of her shoulders. In one hand she held an old, somewhat raggedy stuffed kangaroo that was missing an ear and an eye. "Mister?" she asked in a soft, Australian accent. "Can you help me? Please?"  
Sage knelt down to look the little girl in the eyes. "I. . . what do you need help with?"

"I can't find myself," she said.

Sage paused, unsure of what she meant. "Pardon?"

"I need to find myself! I need my help!" she said, slamming a foot into the ground. "Please! I'm afraid of what I've become! I need to make sure I'm okay! What if I'm hurt or scared or lost? Please, mister help me find myself! You're the only person who can help me!"

Unsure of what to do, Sage gave the little girl a hug. "I don't know what I can do now, but I'll try to help you find yourself." He paused to think. _Whatever that means._ The little girl smiled and returned the hug full force, bouncing a little in his arms as she kissed his cheek and ran off.

"C'mon! Follow me!"

Sage nodded and began to follow, but he stopped short when we saw a huge black pit open up in front of her. The little girl screamed, trying to run away from it. But suddenly she fell to the ground as some unseen force began to drag her to the abyss. She screamed and began to claw at the ground. "Help me, Mister! Help me!"

Sage ran to the little girl, grabbed her hand, and began to try and pull against the force pulling the little girl in. He thought he heard something, and turned his head to see a tall, teenage girl standing on the park bench, her arms folding across her chest as she blankly watched him try to save the little girl. Long, neatly brushed blonde hair hung down to her waist as a large fey lock covered her left eye. She had a strong, athletic build that wasn't overly muscular, but she gave you the impression that she was a fair-enough athlete. "C'mon! Help us!" Sage screamed at her.

"But. . . I can't," she said in a timid, frightened voice. Sage's eyes widened as he recognized the accent- Australian. This was the little girl! Only she was grown up! Then why wasn't she helping herself (as little sense as this was all making to Sage)?! "I can't!" She fell to her knees and began to cry. "I'd only hurt you!"

And everything went black.

* * *

UPDATED: September 9, 2007 

I did some tweaking shortly before Sage tries to kill himself.

This chapter was a little darker than I originally intended it to be. I also wrote a good part of it while sick with asthmatic bronchitis, so I was kinda miserable while writing it. Not as miserable as Sage was, but still feeling pretty icky. And asthmatic bronchitis sucks royally.

If anyone is unfamiliar with the term "film noir", think along the terms of 1930's and 1940's detective films. Sage would make a very sexy film noir detective. But then again Sage would make a very sexy ANYTHING .

I have some _Dragonia_ stuff ready, but I want to look over it a few more times just to be sure. The prologue alone is going to be a four-part job and I only have about two and three-fifths of the parts done.

I made up birthdays for everyone, so no, I'm not using the YST birthdays. I actually did a chart to try and figure out good places for the birthdays based on ages in the stories, though some will be tweaked. So here are some months and dates: All of the Ronin Warriors, according to the dating I used for _AOTS_, where born in 1984. Rowen's birthday is on February 18. Ryo is on April 2. Sage is on October 14. Kento is on November 16. Cye is on December 31. All of the Senshi except for Sara were born in 1985. Rona is on January 15. Keisha is on February 9. Ria is on September 3. Sam is on November 1. Sara was born May 30, 1986. Anubis' birthday is still going to be May 5, 1551, though he's so old it probably doesn't matter at this point, as it won't with other Warlord type figures. Mia and Mike's ages aren't really discussed, though I usually put Mia in the 22-25 range, so Mike would be around that same area. Sue Lee and Yuli were born in or around 1992. Trevor and Evan are probably very close to Ryo and Rowen in age, though Trevor is probably slightly older than Rowen.

Dixxy


	7. Chapter Six

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Six: Information Operations

"Well, what is it?" 

"We've found all of your brother's records," Anubra said. The Warlady of Cruelty stood before her mistress, giving her report. Save Trulpa's best Nether Spirit, Nabashi, Trulpa, and Anubra, the throne room was devoid of sentient beings. "As you well know, my colleagues and I have been scouring through the ruins of Talpa's castle to find anything of use. We found all of his records and recordings of his previous battles. As you can see, my lady, this is huge. Once we have Talpa's records, we can use his information to our benefit."

Trulpa thought this over. Yes, she had sent her Warladies out to collect this information. After all, it could contain ANYTHING that she could use- battle strategies, records of espionage on the Ronins, even the recipe for their grandmother's foot fungus and spider web cookies!

"Where are the other three?" Trulpa asked.

"They're in one of the studies sorting through everything."

"Take me there."

"Yes ma'am." Anubra bowed, then straightened herself to lead her mistress to the study where the other Warladies were busy digging through the other Dynasty leader's personal records. Once she was certain her mistress was following her, Anubra grasped her wrist behind her back and began to lead the demon woman.

Anubra was a serious, practical woman. She never wore make-up because she felt it was a waste of time. When she wasn't in armor, she wore comfortable pants and boots so she could move around easily and, if necessary, fight with ease. Anubra despised kimonos and only wore them when Trulpa gave her no other choice. The Warlady of Cruelty never went out of her way to gain pleasure for herself and declined invitations for tea or other social meetings. Anubra spoke in a formal, almost emotionless voice. When there was emotion, it was usually contempt, anger, or morbid amusement if she was given the task of watching over a prisoner. Her hair was straight and, aside from the obvious washing and combing, was never given any particular treatments despite what it appeared- her honey-brown hair was lined with thick, blonde highlights that were so straight and even that no one believed them to be natural. 

Behind the two women was Nabashi. Once, she had been Badamon's wife, though now that her husband was killed, she was a very bitter widow. Now that Nabashi wasn't bitter beforehand- bitter was perhaps the best word to describe her. Save for when she was around Badamon, she always seemed to be upset about something, usually directed at the Warladies. She considered them to be incompetent prima donnas and rarely dealt with them if she could help it. Some of the residents of the castle- minus the Ronins, who had bigger problems to worry about- sometimes wondered if this bitterness stemmed from Nabashi's unusual skin color- lavender- and her hair, which was very soft, curly, and pink. She was actually a very beautiful spirit, but because of these differences, she may have been alienated because of them. That would explain her bitterness.

And she had married Badamon, a balding, teal-gray Nether Spirit. . .

Anubra stopped just before a large door leading to one of Trulpa's larger studies. "In here," she said. "There was quite a lot to go through, so we selected this study to give us enough room to work. I will warn you, my lady- the study is in disarray right now, and the four of us are spread very thin."

"That's fine," said Trulpa. "As long as you're finding the information, that's all that matters. There is bound to be something in these records that I don't know about yet." Anubra pressed her hand into the door, causing it to disappear. The three stepped into the study as the door materialized behind them.

The study, as Anubra had stated, was quite messy. Tall stacks of parchment, books, and artifacts were placed in several different locations. A few Nether Spirits floated around the room, carrying materials to a from other areas. At first glance there was no organization to this system until one spotted the two large urns in the back of the room- one was labeled "useful", the other "useless".

"Impressive setup," Trulpa said dryly.

"There is more organization to this than what it looks like. We're broken up the work- I, for example, am working on battle records. Daria is working on Talpa's personal notes about things that went on inside of the Dynasty. Vanessa is looking into records your brother made when he sent his Warlords or other minions to spy on several different generations of Ronins. Cara is working with some artifacts we found- mostly armors and weapons, though there are some talisman and jewels mixed in. We also have some miscellaneous records that Talpa had labeled as 'Top Secret', which we decided you should be the first to look at."

Trulpa nodded, noticing the unoccupied desk in the far corner. It was the only neat and tidy part of the entire room- undoubtedly Anubra's workspace. There were three stacks of materials, which Trulpa guessed contained materials that Anubra deemed useful or useless and materials she hadn't looked at yet.

"The only materials we've dubbed useless are things that we know ourselves- even the most trivial things could be considered useful, especially if we wish to outsmart those little Ronin brats. I'm finding more useful files in my records, especially as I enter more recent battles. I have not reached the generation of our special guests yet, but I'm hoping to spot patterns in the ways the Ronins fight that we may have overlooked."

"Excellent, Anubra," said Trulpa. Anubra bowed, returning to her desk. Nodding to Nabashi, Trulpa glided towards the next nearest workstation. Unlike the other stations there were very few books and papers to see. Pendants, daggers, breastplates, and even something that Trulpa guessed was what humans called a "spork" lay about the Warlady sitting in the middle of the pile.

Cara, the Warlady of Darkness, Corruption, and Decay was not quite what Trulpa wanted in a Warlady. Despite her virtue of Obedience, the empress did not have very much faith in this one. This was mostly because the foolish girl- Trulpa purposely chose to never declare her as a woman- had joined her out of pure emotional distress. Cara was the living embodiment of an emotional roller-coaster. She was also handicapped with blindness, which was probably why she was dealing with the artifacts. 

Cara sat on the floor in the Indian position, running her fingers along the edge of a blade. Her face seemed to stare blankly ahead of her, her eyes now covered by thick, maroon goggles. Trulpa had given these to Cara almost immediately apon her enlistment- her eyes had been so badly scarred from the incident that even Trulpa couldn't bear to look at them. The goggles also gave Cara partial vision, but the Warlady said it was hardly vision- it was just enough for her to get a general idea of her surroundings. 

Since she needed her fingertips bare, Cara had opted for a kimono and sandals instead of the subarmor the other Warladies wore, thought it had been tied very messily. Her soft, fluffy violet hair had been pulled into a loosely, untidy braid to keep it out of her way. Once, Trulpa had wondered if this was due to her blindness, but eventually she realized Cara just didn't care. Her room was rarely clean and she didn't do very much unless she was told to. 

_Lazy girl_, Trulpa thought. 

She did, however, need to commend her on one thing- she was a very skilled warrior. She relied on her other senses in battle, which had slowly evolved to near perfection. Cara could tell when an attack was coming nearly three times as fast as the other Warladies, often being prepared minutes beforehand. She was also very violent in battle, screaming and slashing wildly at any Ronins or other mortals who stood in her way, particularly at Halos. Yet when she wasn't in the heat of battle, she was quiet, reserved, and unsociable. 

"These are all very fine weapons," said Cara, placing the sword she was investigating down on the floor beside her. "Spirit- take this to the useful pile." Immediately, a Nether Spirit rushed forth, grabbed the sword, and rushed over to the urn marked "Useful". Cara thanked the spirit and grabbed the next sword, a huge broadsword with a jagged blade.

"Hmm. . . that's an unusual piece," said Trulpa.

"I feel a lot of magic inside of it," said Cara. "This weapon was _forged_ using a lot of dark magic, but its _source_ feels different." She laid the sword down in her lap, beginning to feel for textures. "My lady, I feel that this blade served some great purpose for your brother. Perhaps you should ask Anubra about it?"

Trulpa picked up the blade for herself and gasped. "I can feel the power source, Cara," she said. She twirled the sword around in her hand. "The sword was undoubtedly forged with the help of my brother and his Nether Spirits, but it stems from three specific young men."

"You don't mean. . . the three Ronin Warriors?" asked Nabashi.

Trulpa grinned and nodded. "The very same. I'm sure of it. Listen carefully- you can hear their screams of agony in the sword. The screams of their pathetic friends. Don't you get it?" Trulpa stabbed the sword into the floor and leaned against it, her elbow resting on its cross-bar. "This sword belonged to Daala. I heard of that battle- Talpa drained our guests' powers to make this sword and gave it to Daala so that Wildfire and Strata would, theoretically, be struck down by the powers of their own friends. Of course the plan failed miserably- who would've thought those boys still had enough strength to help Wildfire form the Inferno?- but it was a brilliant idea." She snapped her fingers and the sword disappeared.

"Trulpa? What do you plan to do with it?" asked Cara.

"Though it isn't nearly as powerful as it once was, I may be able to use it. Remember, I have the three its powers came from. Whether they like it or not they are a part of that sword and it is a part of them. Perhaps we'll have some fun with it a little later. I'd like to keep it until that time comes, however," said Trulpa. With a snap of his fingers, a sheath for the sword appeared on her back, and with a few simple tosses into the air, the sword was in its new resting place. "Even if it won't help me formulate a plan, I'm sure I can have a little fun mortifying out guests, ne?"

Cara smiled weakly, then went back to work as Trulpa moved across the room to where her Warlady of Venom, Vanessa, was seated. With one her snakes draped over her shoulders, the woman was lazily flipping through papers, all of which were formatted in a neat, organized fashion.

Vanessa was another odd Warlady. A buxom beauty with piles of soft purple hair and full red lips, Trulpa knew many men who would give their right arm just to see her naked and sell their souls for a mere night in her bed. However, this would probably not come to fruition- Vanessa's lips were coated with a very potent poison that killed on contact- even if the kiss wasn't planted on her lover's lips. The only person immune to this treatment was Sehkment, with whom Vanessa actually HAD shared a bed with several times. Of course her promiscuous activities had given Trulpa no other choice but to hex her with a barren womb, a spell that she didn't like to cast even on her worst enemies. Despite all the Senshi she had killed, tortured, and waged war against, Trulpa had an odd respect for a woman's ability to bear children and would never do anything to impair a girl's ability to do so. Still, if Vanessa ever became pregnant. . . no. Trulpa wouldn't think about the consequences.

Trulpa decided that Vanessa was fine on her own- that information she would need to look over later anyways. Espionage reports bored her, as they were usually dry and useless, though a few were mildly amusing or intriguing. After all, it had been such reports that led her to the capture of the three Ronin Warriors, Lady Kayura, and the remaining Dark Warlords. 

That left Daria, who Trulpa felt was more well-rounded than the others. She fought well, came up with intelligent plans, and was always a hit at social gatherings. Out of the four Dark Warladies, Daria wasn't as strong in terms of combat, but she was an EXCEPTIONAL sorceress- her illusions were downright deadly. 

The peculiarity about her Trulpa couldn't explain was the tattoo. Sure, many people had tattoos or body piercings, but Daria wasn't "many people". Her tattoo was a black spider web that reached across her face. Trulpa had no idea why she had it or how she'd gotten it, but it was something that was never discussed.

"Your brother kept stupid notes- half of this is contact information on women and demons who provided 'special services'," Daria said. Trulpa nodded. "I have found some interesting notes on his last two wars with the Ronins. . . including the ones we have. There's quite a bit of information on those torture sessions that I'm sure you want to investigate."

Trulpa's eyes widened. Yes. . . this is what she wanted. Brining her pinkies to her mouth, she blew. All four Warladies looked up, confused as to what their mistress wanted. The Nether Spirits stopped flying, a few dropping items or parchments when they turned to look at her in curiosity. "You are all dismissed- I want to look through these things myself. BY myself."

No one argued with Trulpa- no one was stupid or bold enough to do so.

With the room cleared, Trulpa walked towards the pile of papers that her brother had deemed as being Top Secret, a grin on her lips. No doubt about it her brother had something of interest here. Now, it was just a matter of finding out what these secrets were so she could use them to her benefit.

The papers were wrapped in brown parchment and string, which Trulpa quickly rid herself of. These were important. She could feel it. A more serious tone in her body, she began to search through the documents and files, desperate to find something good. There had to be something there- she refused to believe otherwise. 

Not too deep into the packet, Trulpa saw a swirling silver, green, purple, and blue sheet. "A Memory Page," she said aloud. "This must be important if Talpa kept a Memory Page for it." Memory Pages were records of visual recordings that were made only for the most IMPORTANT documentation. Trulpa herself had only used one once, and she hadn't heard of her brother doing so very often. This was important, indeed.

Trulpa placed the paper on the floor, and activated the visual.

~

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

"I am pleased, Sehkment," Talpa said as he followed his Warlord of Venom down the Dynasty corridor. Sehkment had just recently returned to the castle with news of a very important prisoner. Cye of the Torrent was HIS. "I did not expect you to be back so quickly with the boy. Tell me, how much trouble was he?"

"Not much at all. He destroyed Red Torrent, but it can't be helped," said Sehkment. He stopped before a door leading to one of the smaller dungeons. "I have him in here for the time being. Shall we go in? You can see for yourself what we have. So young and innocent. . . you'd enjoy cutting him, wouldn't you, Master?"

"I have no intention to harm the boy. . . yet," said Talpa. "That comes at a later time. As for the 'we' comment? I want to be alone with the littlest Ronin Warrior. I want to have a one-on-one conversation with the child, a conversation that you will take no part in. Understood?" Sehkment nodded, slinking backwards to find something else to do. After all, a war was going on- surely he was needed SOMEWHERE, especially considering Anubis had disappeared.

Talpa slowly creaked the door open, hearing sounds of frustration from inside. Fully opening the door, the emperor grinned (well, his eyes lit up at any rate). Currently, Torrent was chained to a wall wearing all of his armor save the helmet, which was lying several feet away. Several small gargoyle like creatures were welcoming the boy to the Dynasty. Torrent wasn't quite appreciative of all the hair and face pulling. The creatures didn't seem to care and laughed whenever he cried out in pain and anguish. 

"Enough!" Talpa said, raising a hand. The creatures all stopped and looked up at Talpa, made high pitched shrieking noises, and scampered away. The boy before his was frozen, his body shaking slightly as he realized exactly who was in the room with him. Talpa stepped forward while Cye of the Torrent turned his head away.

"Don't be a foolish boy, Torrent. Admit it- I've won this battle. I've won YOU. YOU and your armor belong to ME," Talpa stated. Cye closed his eyes, scoffed, and turned his head. "I would recommend you refrain from those actions, boy. Your life may be cut tragically short if you practice such unsafe habits."

Slowly, Cye turned to glare at Talpa. "Go away."

Furious, Talpa grabbed his chin and slammed his body into the wall, causing him to cry out. Cye looked into Talpa's eyes, fear painted across his face. He paused, looked thoughtful for a moment, and shook his head. The motion stopped to reveal a much more determined expression. "You may have captured me, but I'm not going to stay here!"

"That's what you say," said Talpa. He looked over Cye. Though the boy was flapping his jaw at him, it was obvious Sehkment's poison was still having an affect on him. For one, he wasn't really rattling his chains or kicking and screaming at him, which Talpa would have expected. The boy also looked a little worse for wear, small, shallow cuts on his exposed face and neck that probably came from the gargoyles.

"I'm going to put you in your place now," Talpa said simply. Though not a talented sorcerer, Talpa wasn't a complete klutz when it came to magic. In an instant, Cye was suddenly nude and the armor was no where to be seen. The bearer of Torrent gasped, wondering what had happened. "Unfortunately, your armor isn't permanently in my possession- I only made it disappear."

Now Cye was struggling against his bonds, which had become much looser. Underneath the thick material the armor was forged from was a thin, smallish body. A well-maintained body, but nothing overly incredible. It was very obvious that the boy was still very young, naïve, and probably virginal. "Give me my armor back!" 

"What's the matter? Are you uncomfortable when you're exposed?"

By this time Cye was on the floor, his knees and legs curled up to his chest. "I swear, Talpa, you're not going to get away with ANY of this- taking over Toyama, trying to kill us, kidnapping me. . . when Ryo and the others find me and rescue me you won't be so cocky. You're going to DIE! And we're going to make sure that happens you low-life bastard!"

Talpa's eyes glowed in furry. Cye realized this was a bad thing- sure he could take some tough hits in his armor, but here we was completely unprotected. He made a small yelping noise before curling into a ball, his arms crossed over his knees and head. Despite his position, Cye knew his chances of surviving such a blast were slim to none.

Energy formed in Talpa's hands, ready to strike the boy down. He raised his arms, but then paused when he noticed the backs of Cye's hands. He lowered his hand and focused on the smooth appendages that were now beginning to pulsate with magic. Talpa was slightly confused by this- what did it mean?

On Cye's right hand, the kanji of "Trust" was shinning brightly.

But on his left hand, the symbol for "Loyalty" was dully illuminated.

Talpa turned heel and ran for his life.

~

Slowly, Trulpa removed her hand from the Memory Page. Like her brother, she understood what the symbols of Cye's hands had meant. This was no ordinary young man- hell, this was no ordinary Ronin Warrior! Talpa had been damned smart to turn and run away once his hands began to glow.

Cye was being protected by the Torrent and Spring armors.

_But that's impossible! No one can have two armors! It's unheard of!_

Except for one instance.

"No armor bearer has ever sired a child in the history of both sets of Mystical Armor," said Trulpa. "The first child to be born to an armor bearer will have the powers of a different armor, and protection from their parent's armor. The Child of Destiny can use both his or her own magic in conjunction with his or her parent's armor to launch devastating attacks on their enemies."

This meant only one thing.

Cye was the Child of Destiny.

And Anubis was Cye's natural father. 

~

-_-* Why does EVERYBODY have to update their fics or add new stories right after I do?

Just as a side note, some of you may be wondering where the whole "Anubis is Cye's father" thing came about. I'll tell you this much- it was NOT the series. Nothing in the entire Ronin Warriors/YST storyline supports this, including OAVs and Drama CDs. Manga I don't know, but most of it is fan made so it wouldn't count even if every damn one said it. Personally, I like this one where Cale jumps out at the Ronins and Yuli in a Batman costume- uh, never mind, off topic -_-*. Anyways, the idea actually came from a discussion Pathfinder (a close personal friend of mine) and I had some years ago about a series she's (still) developing. In short, one of her characters (Michelle) was going to be both Cye's twin sister and Anubis was her father. Since they were twins, Cye was logically Anubis' son also. Later, we decided that Cye and Anubis did have some similar traits (similar hair and eye colors, similar builds, ect.), enough so that things could be tweaked into this odd scenario. So no, Cye is not actually Anubis' son- it's just a plot device two Ronin fangirls dreamed up one fine day.

This chapter ran kinda long- typically I like to keep all the chapters down to an approximate length and I went over that length this time. 

I've decided that, since he's actually a really pointless character, I'm going to get rid of Kamusa. So if there's any mentions of him in the next several stories, they will be found (either through a- my editing process or b- a quick look-though of _A Tale of Two Torrents_ and _Dark Chocolate, White Diamonds_)and deleted. Also, Brenamon's name has been changed to Nabashi. I figured that Trulpa still needed a head Nether Spirit, but "Brenamon" sounded like a cheap rip-off of Badamon (though admittedly that's what it was).

That said and done, I added more characterization to the Warladies! Though Cara later becomes a more influential character, little was done to develop the other three. Ever. Even in the original MST bait I wrote using these characters. I decided to be liberal with how I played with Vanessa and Daria, as thus far they've only appeared in stories that will be edited shortly. Vanessa is kind of like Poison Ivy on speed. Daria is just. . . odd. I don't know. 

Last note, I swear. I looked at the summary I posted for this story on my website (which is more reminiscent of what you'd find on the back of a book cover or on the inside flap), I saw a few points that I wanted to add in. This is probably going to be longer than the original.

Crystal Cat: Thanks! Actually, those dreams weren't all Sage's- the first two were from Kento and Cye. Well, I figured Cye would do something like that. Even if it was a dark moment, it's kind of symbolic. I'm not sure I can put it into words, but it has meaning. Sara? No- her past sticks out too much, despite how traumatic it must've been to live with her freak of a mother (whom is something like a 50's sitcom mother on speed). This is something I kind of want to do, anyways. 

Harry: Aw. . . yer makin' me blush. Heh, yeah- I don't play by the rules all the time. Well, this is true. Trulpa hasn't seen anything yet.

Migoto: Thanks! Yeah, I wanted to make Trulpa little more creepy, but she does have that odd, crazy aunt side to her (in the original _Armor of the Soul_ series, she insists on going souvenir shopping, and at other points in the story she gets excited over kind of weird things). I like it when my stories kick ass. More naked Sage? Yes, there isn't enough naked Sage, is there? (Sage: J_- *shakes head*)

~Dixxy


	8. Chapter Seven

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Seven: The Powers Within

A few days after Sage's suicide attempt, Kento told Cye what had happened.

"Well why didn't you tell me this before!?" Cye asked, turning on his best friend as the two stood in the younger Ronin's bedroom. His turquoise eyes had narrowed with his face into a scowl, his fists clenched on either side. "For heaven's sake I though he'd just had a nightmare! I didn't think he was suicidal! What the bloody hell makes you think that not telling me something that big was a good idea!?"

"It didn't seem like a good time!" Kento countered.

"You told me not to worry!" Cye said. His face changed from the scowl to the pleading desperate look Cye used whenever he was very upset about something. "Kento, is Sage is suicidal how can I not worry about him? He's my friend, too! I know it was an awkward moment, but why did you wait until now to tell me?"

Kento sighed. "Cye, I've dealt with some crap in my life, but I've never had to deal with a suicidal friend before. I wasn't sure HOW to bring it up. He was really unstable a few days ago- dear God, Cye, Trulpa tried to convince him he was some kind of a worthless whore."

Cye was taken aback by this comment. "Wha?!" To Cye, "Sage" and "whore" did not belong in the same sentence, never mind should anyone accuse Sage of being such a thing! Out of all the Ronins Cye thought Sage to be the most proper, polite, and well-groomed of the lot. How could anyone say such a thing?

"I'm not sure where it came from either, but I think it's because Sage is, for lack of a better phrase, a 'pretty boy'. Face it, Cye- the girls back in Japan thought Sage was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Remember that one who chased him down the street screaming at him to father her children? From the way Rowen reacted to the situation with that 'here we go again' look I get the idea this kind of thing has happened before," said Kento, sitting down on Cye's bed. He crossed one leg over the other and folded his hands in his lap. "So Trulpa's probably playing on that a little bit, but I get the idea that wasn't the biggest piece of the pie."

Cye sat next to Kento, placing his hands on the blanket and leaning backwards onto the outstretched limbs. "What do you mean by that? Sage came from a good family- the Date clan! Our seventh and eighth grade history teachers sang nothing but praises about Date Masamune and he was raised in a very prestigious dojo. He's polite, dresses maturely, keeps himself well-groomed, gets decent marks from what I gather and is an all-around model citizen."

"Well, you're right- Sage ISN'T telling us something," Hardrock said. He propped his elbows on his knees and rested in chin on his clasped hands. "When I asked Sage about it, he said something about family problems, though that much I knew a little about. Believe it or not, Sage is a wild child at heart, but that's not what his parents wanted- they wanted someone mature and sensible from a young age."

Cye finished the story for Kento. "They were very strict with him to suppress his wild desires so they'd have an heir to the Date clan. He had a rough childhood, didn't he?" he said, looking to Kento for an answer. Kento looked indecisive, which Cye raised an eyebrow to.

"Maybe not a 'bad' childhood, but certainly a strict one. They used to lock him in the basement if he was misbehaving, and Sage was never a big fan of the dark. I imagine he was worse as a kid about it. Personally, I don't think Sage was physically beaten or, God forbid, sexually assaulted, but there was probably a little bit of mental abuse involved," said Kento. "Still. . . I think that it goes deeper than that."

"What do you mean?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have a damn clue- Sage refuses to talk about it, but whatever it is I THINK it's something serious. After the second war, Sage never called home like the rest of us did," said Kento. "Rowen had lengthy conversations with both of his parents and the two of us used that speakerphone function so we could talk to my folks, then you called your mother. Ryo never really had a family TO call, but Rowen tried to get Sage to talk to his family. I don't know what happened, but Sage is angry with his folks for something."

"For the suppression?" Cye asked.

Kento shook his head. "No, Sage lives the way they wanted him to, doesn't he? If he was upset with them over that he'd probably be off doing wild things like smoking marijuana or sleeping with all those girls that liked him so much. As a side note I think he's afraid to act any other way, but what can we do about it? Nothing. Sage is the only person who can tell us anything at this moment in time. Rowen MIGHT know something, but I'm not sure."

"Like he'd say anything," Cye said. "Rowen and Sage were best friends, and anything that went on between the two of them should stay there. I understand suicide is involved here, but. . . Rowen's smart, and if there's away to leak just enough information to help Sage without revealing a secret, he'll find it. And he would, too, considering- speaking of which, how stable is Sage right NOW!?"

Suddenly, Cye was alone in the room with distinct echo of the magic Kento had used to teleport out. Sighing, Cye curled up in a ball on his bed. He thought about following Kento, then decided against it- it was probably better that there was only one person checking on him. If he came into the picture, Sage might get upset, and if he really WAS still unbalanced, then that might have a bad outcome. Besides, he'd just found out about what had happened- he needed at least a few hours to sort the through everything running in his head before he did anything.

_I'll apologize to Sage for not involving myself as much as Kento has later,_ he said. Cye snorted, shrugging his shoulders as he rolled onto his side and rested one hand on his pillow. _Maybe I'll pop in on him later with some cookies or something- Sage does love chocolate chunk, and I think I've got the resources to make them. He and Ryo went crazy over the last batch I made._

Cye cringed at the thought of the Mortal Realm. Although he desperately missed his mother, Kento's family, and his friends, it had been close to two months since their disappearance. As they had figured out early on, the more time that passed, the less likely it was they would be returning to Japan. So far, they'd come up with nothing in terms of a plan of escape. Now it looked like they'd probably end up having to rely on the Senshi or, when they finally did break free, go to the Senshi.

The world hadn't quite looked the same to him after the war had been fought, something he wasn't sure he'd get over anytime soon. Prior to even receiving his armor, the world seemed like such a happy place. Ideas like love and friendship filled his head, and in all honestly he didn't have very many cares in the world. The worst thing that had happened to him was arriving in Japan as a foreign exchange student to find that, somehow, through some stupid error somewhere along the way, he was alone in a country that spoke a language he was still learning and no place to go. God bless the Rei Fuangs for taking him in within the first few days- he'd been too embarrassed to go back home to his mother and sister.

Cye blew up at his bangs. Sage wasn't the only one with a few family issues. Thanks to some drunken banter from the Mouri side of the family at a family gathering, Cye learned that he wasn't QUITE who he thought he was. The man whose last name he bore wasn't his father at all- in fact, that man died well over a year before his birth. In actuality, he was the result of a drunk one-night stand his mother had while still grieving for her husband's death. Cye had been mortified when he learned the truth, but he had still been fairly young when he learned the truth. True he had no clue how it was possible for some random stranger to impregnate his mother at the time (he'd been doubly mortified when an uncle of his had sat him down for "the talk"), but he understood enough to know it wasn't a widely accepted practice.

_Well, I'm here, aren't I? How can I complain? If my mother hadn't done that then I wouldn't be here,_ he often found himself thinking. It was a difficult feeling to comprehend- it couldn't have been easy for his mother. She was pregnant with some nameless face's baby, something that disturbed Cye. He hated the fact that his mother went through that, but what good would his words of comfort really do?

Once, when Cye was eleven, he'd approached his mother and said the most difficult thing he'd ever had to say to her. "I'm sorry" were two words he said on occasion, but never for something he couldn't control. It hadn't taken much before he broke down crying, trying to take the blame for everything she'd gone through. His mother had cried, too, holding him tightly and telling him over and over that it didn't matter how he came into the world. What mattered to her was that she had a wonderful son that she loved and loved her back.

Cye yawned as he finished the thought. His conversation with Kento had taken place at a late hour, and he was too tired to really do anything about anything at all. He'd make some cookies in the morning, bring them to Sage, then sit down and have a talk with him about what had happened.

Cye awoke with a start, but didn't move from the position he lay in. He listened carefully, hearing high-pitched squeaking sounds and the shuffling of claws and feet against the carpet in his room. Cye held his breath, too frightened to move. He needed to have a better idea as to what was going on before he did anything.

The sounds of the chattering made him realize that they were small gargoyle like creatures that lived in the Dynasty- when he'd first been captured by Talpa they'd been his "welcoming committee"- nasty little creatures they were. They enjoyed pulling hair, smacking, scratching, and overall being a nuisance to anyone whom they decided to bother. Though he didn't consider them a real threat, they were a problem and he'd have to deal with them if he hoped to sleep through the rest of the night.

"BWAJIBIBIBIBIKA!!!"

Cye screamed as one of the creatures pounced on his head. Startled, he bolted upright in his bed, flailing his arms around to try and get the creature off. The other gargoyles joined in, latching onto him and causing quite a scene. Stumbling off the bed with at least five of the creatures on him, Cye struggling to push them off. But his efforts weren't doing very much- they were holding onto him like leeches.

In an effort to try and get one off, Cye decided he would try to cast a spell. Physical force wasn't working, so maybe magic force would. Concentrating as much as he could, Cye pointed a finger at a gargoyle latched onto his left leg and short a beam of ice cold water at it. The creature fell off, sputtering at the surprise water attack. Cye thought he was victorious, but once the attack was called off the creature jumped back on.

_Damn it! I can't keep that up for long!_ he thought miserably.

"EAT! EAT! EAT!"  
"FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!"

"DINNER! DINNER! DINNER!"

Cye screamed in pain when the creature on his leg bit down hard on his leg. He saw white from the pain as the gargoyles began to attack other parts of his body- his arms, his torso, but thankfully not his neck. Tears were streaming down his eyes from the sheer pain he was being forced to endure. But his flailing and magical attempts were doing no good- someone was going to find a half-eaten carcass the next day.

The creature on his head began to claw at his scalp, causing coppery tasting blood to drip down his face in rivulets mixed with salty tears. That was one thing Cye was very aware of- blood. He could feel the life-giving liquid seeming to poor from his wounds, the gargoyles drinking it greedily like fine wine. His stomach lurched at the thought of it.

"HELP ME! SOMEBODY! HELP ME!" Cye screamed.

Suddenly the room began to rumble and fill with light. The creatures stopped gnawing on Cye, confused as to what was going on. Before they could react, however, beams of concentrated energy began to shoot out at them from seemingly nowhere. They yelped and screamed, not happy with the unwanted attack. Once they were all off of him, Cye collapsed to the floor, his wounds bleeding profusely and pieces of his own flesh hanging off where a few had taken some small chunks out.

The gargoyles were now all lying lifeless on the floor, the energy having either knocked them out or perhaps even killed them. Cye wasn't sure what to think- besides, his heads was swamped with pain and he was having trouble thinking or even seeing things clearly. He needed help- badly.

"HOLY SHIT, CYE!!!" Somewhat distantly, Cye became aware of another presence in the room. "CYE!!! OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, CYE!!!" Cye kept his eyes open long enough to see Sage's panic stricken face hovering over him before loosing all conscious though.


	9. Chapter Eight

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Eight: Waiting

Sage was briefly aware that some sort of a power had been able to nag him awake, told him to get to Cye, and he obeyed without question, because of a part of him had awoken with a sense of dread. When he entered the room it was dark, but instinct and the smell of blood made him turn the lights on. When he saw Cye's tattered- that was the best word for his condition- body lying on the floor in a puddle of blood, Sage couldn't help but swear and scream at the situation. 

No wonder the force had told him to go to Cye! His friend was suffering from wounds that would have been unquestionably fatal if they weren't healed right away! Sage was down on his knees by Cye's side, swearing and screaming at the top of his lungs, especially after the young Ronin's eyes closed. Tears began to stream from Sage's eyes. 

The blood loss was severe, and the wounds were horrible to look at. Quickly, once Sage collected himself enough to function, he outstretched his arms and began to concentrate on the healing powers he had. He ran his hands over Cye's naked form, radiating the healing magic from his limbs to his friend. Slowly, with a soft sort of crackling sound, the wounds began to close up most of the way, but they wouldn't fully heal despite Sage's efforts.

"I'm exhausted," he said aloud, breathing heavily as he looked over Cye's frightening pale, but still breathing, figure. "Of course I'm not functioning at one-hundred percent! I'm not strong enough in this state- I'm frantic, I'm tired, and I don't even have my armor to help me! DAMN IT!"

Sage needed help- fast. 

_Kento._ Sage bit his bottom lip. Kento didn't like waking up in the middle of the night, much like Rowen didn't like getting up early in the morning. Still, once he heard enough to know Cye was hurt Sage was sure that Hardrock would be wide awake and ready to help him. He wasn't sure what help his other friend would be just yet, but he needed him badly.

Sage was tempted to go to Kento's room by himself, but then he saw several creatures still lying around. Judging from the splattered blood on their bodies he guessed they were his attackers, but as to why they were unconscious he wasn't sure. Had Cye fought them all off? It didn't seem likely considering what a number they did on him, but something beat them down. They were down, but not dead- some of them were beginning to move, and Sage did NOT want to deal with the little things right then. If they made that bad of a mess out of Cye, and they were able to do the same with him, then they'd all be goners. Sage was the only one out of the three who would use healing magic, and even though she wanted to use them, he had a funny feeling Trulpa wouldn't be much help.

Carefully, Sage collected Cye, causing the younger to moan in pain. "Shh, it's going to be all right, Cye- I'm going to help you. I'm going to keep them away from you, don't worry. We're going to fix you up and you'll be as good as new," he consoled. Sage chose to speak in Cye's native tongue, English, which was a language he himself had grown-up around due to his mother's upbringing as an American.

Sage felt a hand weakly grip the edge of his bathrobe. Cye was waking up and reaching out to him. Drunk, hazy eyes looked back at Halo, begging him to stop the pain in any way he could. The blonde shook his head, insisting he not do anything. "Save your strength- please," Sage pleaded.

"Sage. . ." Cye's voice was weak and crackling. He needed help- fast.

Hoping and praying like he'd never prayed before, Sage teleported back to his bedroom.

~

"Kento! KENTO!"

Kento groaned, batting his hand at the offensive voice. "Go'way. Wanna sleep."

"Kento, this is serious!"

"Sleep. . ." Kento grabbed an extra pillow and stuffed his head under it.

"Kento, Cye is DYING!"

Hardrock bolted straight up in bed, now very awake to see a frantic and distraught Sage looking at him, barely dressed in his bathrobe. His hair was a mess and his eyes had heavy bags under him, matched with tears and redness. But the most noticeable thing about Sage that he noticed was the bright crimson liquid that smeared his clothing (which consisted of a hastily thrown-on bathrobe- very un-Sage like) and skin. "What!?"

"He was attack by these creatures! My God, I think they were trying to eat him alive!" said Sage, who was now frantically pacing back and fourth, his voice shaky from the tear wracked sobs he was emitting. "I don't have enough energy to heal him enough- I'm too tired but I need to heal him or else he could die! Oh, Kento, he's lost so much blood, I don't know what to do! I don't want Cye to die!" He collapsed into Kento, clutching his shoulders as he cried into his chest. 

Kento was stunned speechless. "Where is he now?"

Sage sniffed. "My room."

"Then THAT'S where we're going!" Kento clutched Sage tightly and teleported them back to Halo's room. After the feeling slight dizziness that sometimes came from the feeling of existing, then not existing, and suddenly existing again faded, the two scrambled to Sage's bedside, where Sage had wrapped Cye in a blanket.

Kento sat down next to Cye, who was breathing very slowly in concentrated, heavy breaths. His eyes were wide open, but it didn't seem like he was quite there. Cye's skin was a cold and clammy, obviously from the blood loss Sage had described. "Cye. Oh, Cye," Kento said, brushing his fingers over Cye's frightfully cold forehead. His friend twisted away, weakly crying out.

"Oh Cye!" Sage cried. 

Kento bit his bottom lip, cringing to see Cye in such agony. "How could this happen?"

"I don't know!" Sage moaned, falling to his knees. He hugged himself, giving Kento the idea he was ashamed. "I saw all of these things lying on the floor. . . they were like little gargoyles. I think they were the ones who did this to him." He sniffled. "Kento, I want to go home."

Kento frowned. Despite the fact that a bad situation was getting progressively worse, they couldn't forget that they were all longing for home, even Sage, who seemed to have some sort of issue with his folks. Hardrock closed his eyes tightly as he thought about his own family that he, too, missed dearly. His family loved him so much, and he loved them back. And now he was beginning to question whether or not he'd ever see them again.

_I can't worry about that now. None of us are questioning that we don't like it here, but right now we need to make sure Cye stays here in the world of the living,_ Kento thought to himself. Kento inched slightly closer to Cye. "Cye. . . hang in there, buddy. Sage and I are going to make sure you get out of this one okay. Hold on."

Slowly, Cye reacted. "Ken. . . to. . ."

Kento held back a cringe. "Oh, Cye. . ."

Sage stood up, brushing his robe. "I want to try healing him again," he said. Sage's eyes were still tear-stained, and he still looked tired, but Kento knew that this was his friend's only chance. As tired as he was, they couldn't afford for Sage to rest up to full strength- Cye might not survive long enough for Sage to do that.

_But even if Sage heals him. . ._ Kento thought. Sage could heal wounds, but he wasn't sure if he could replace blood in the same process. So while Sage was healing the wounds on Cye's body, he'd work on replenishing all of his friend's lost blood. But the question was, how did he do that?

Minutes passed as Kento sat to think about how to counteract the blood loss. Sage seemed to be regaining his composure as he healed Cye, who's wounds were lessening and lessening to the point were Kento would barely see them anymore. Still, his skin was so pale. . .

Kento sighed. "Is there anything in your spell book? On blood loss?" he asked. His eyes grew wide as his desperation became very evident. Kento's voice started to quiver as tears began to stream down his face. "The Halo armors heal- they must have SOMETHING on severe blood loss! They have to!" 

"Well. . . I haven't looked through the entire book yet. Kento, there is an index and a table of contents- see if you can find anything in there on it," Sage said, still working on healing Cye. "Good news is the bleeding had stopped." He paused, and Kento could feel Sage tense up. "Those creatures."

"Yeah, what about 'em?" asked Kento, who was now flipping through the book like his very life depended on it. "Ah! Here it is! You're going to need some extra supplies for this but it doesn't seem too complicated! Just take a few hairs off his head for his essence and-"

"No! He might have an infection on top of the injuries and blood loss!" said Sage.

"And. . . we aren't even sure what they are. . ." said Kento. He shook his head. "I wasn't the best student in the biology lab, but I DO know that Cye needs blood to help fight off any infection that might exist. If he doesn't have enough blood to fight an infection off, then we might as well give up now."

"Excuse me!?" asked Sage. "You're going to let Cye-"

"That NOT what I said- what I said is that without an immune system Cye is gone if there's an infection. Therefore we need to get that back before we do anything else," said Kento. "THEN we can worry about whatever lovely little diseases those things were carrying."

"All right," said Sage. "You see if you can find out what those. . . those. . . THINGS are, and I'll work on the spell to increase his amount of blood." He smiled at Kento as he stood and walked towards the book, his night robe flowing softly as he moved. "You know what, Kento?"

Kento stopped in his tracks to look at Sage. "Yeah?"  
"I never gave you enough credit for your intelligence."

Hardrock wasn't sure what to say. "And?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Now give me a chance to find those damn things!"

~

Kento returned an hour later with a slim volume. Cye was in bed while he caretaker was sitting on the floor, his back up against the foot of the bed. Sage now looked beyond exhausted, the bags under his eyes heavier than before. Even his hair seemed to have lost some of its life and volume. _He needs to get some sleep REAL soon or else he's gonna get sick or snap like a twig._

Kento glanced at Sage's bed to see that the color had returned to Cye's skin and he seemed to be sleeping a little better. His fingers were gently gripping Sage's pillow and his face only showed slight signs of discomfort, a huge improvement over the hordes of pain he'd had to endure earlier that evening.

"What did you find?" Sage asked.

"They're actually called gargoyle gremlins," said Kento. He had an almost sad look on his face as he slid next to Sage, tapping his fingers on the volume. "They aren't a kind of demon and they aren't venomous, but I would still have something on hand to fight off an infection with- venom or no venom, they probably have some sort of germ on them. Actually, they were once a very peaceful species that lived off of plants- they were initially herbivorous."

"Okay, so why did those gremlins suddenly decide Cye was a salad?"  
"They didn't- they saw him as flesh and blood. Talpa and Trulpa cursed the entire species with a horrible thirst and hunger for. . . well. . . you saw what happened to Cye. If they don't satisfy their curse, they die a horrible, painful death that involves all of their organs bursting inside of their bodies and their nervous system going out of whack, leaving them twitching blobs of flesh for as long as three days," said Kento. He turned his head away. "Three days of suffering, and once the process begins it's nearly impossible to stop it even with what they crave. In a way, they're like crack babies- their parents were addicted and because they were in the womb, now they're addicted, too."

Sage's face twisted into one of unease as his complexion turned a slight shade of green. The truth about the origin of the gargoyle gremlins was disturbing the bearer of the Halo armor, and Kento couldn't help but agree with him. "That's disgusting- why would they do that?"

"They crave evil, what else? Talpa and Trulpa probably LIKED the idea of creatures like the gargoyle gremlin of today. In fact, the gargoyle gremlins weren't the only species to be affected- there are probably thousands of others," said Kento. "We can feel bad for them all we want, but we need to beware of them. Their ancestors may have remembered better times, but two-thousand years of this savage desires must have made them forget what it used to be like for them. To them, that's the way the world works. So we need to know the way they work and avoid them."

"Right," said Sage. 

Kento folded his arms. "Sage, is something wrong?"

"Yes- it's Cye."

Kento's heart nearly stopped. He was on his feet in an instant to look over his best friend. His chest was moving slowly up and down, meaning he was breathing and therefore alive. Cye was alive, he had blood, and he had been healed. What was Sage's problem, then?

"It's his legs," Sage said. "Those gremlins did a lot of damage, but Cye's legs got the worse damage." He gulped, clenching his eyes shut as tears escaped from the corners of his eyelids. "Depending on how bad the damage to the muscles and ligaments was. . . Kento. . . Cye might not be able to walk."

~

****

Oops! I made a mistake- in chapter one, Sage started off by telling everyone that he was overdue for a call home, and everyone else chimed in. Later, Cye and Kento discussed how Sage made no motion to call home, yet everyone else had lengthy conversations. This should be changed by the time this chapter is posted. If not, it will be amended quickly.

I'm in a Cye tormenting mood, can you tell?

Today is my birthday, so **I've decided to give you all a present**- more of this story AND _Ronin Senshi Legends_. Well, part of it, anyways.

Harry: Ooo. . . yea, that could've turned into a bad situation fast. REAL fast. I love Mirror and Image's stuff, though I never liked Rose. And I swear it's NOT because of the fact she's a Cye Mary Sue. I don't hate every Cye Mary Sue out there, I don't! I can't think of the story, but there is one very likable Cye hook-up with a girl whose name began with a "P". It wasn't a common name, either. Damn, not I'm pissed I can't remember her name. That last chapter got bloody, and this one featured a panicky Kento and Sage, though all things considered they handled it well. 

Firestorm: There's a name I don't see very often. How ya doing? Oh, I remember this now- I emailed you about it. For anyone who's reading this, the fic Firestorm challenged me to write was actually the first attempt at RW fanfiction I ever made! It was never finished or published and though I apparently decided to delete most of it without a backup, I still have some of it. But it's bad, so if I answer it it'll be basically new material. 

Crystal Cat: They say you hurt the ones you love, right? Yeah, he does, though in the series the only thing we actually see is that trick with the sword. However, it was said in the YST bio or something that they extend farther than that, which is what most fans use. Yeah. The bad thing about the republishing of CoC is that you guys already know what the ultimate outcome is for the most part. We know Cye isn't crippled for life because he does all sorts of walking and stuff by the time he's with the Senshi. Sage is going to make it all better ^.~ After reading the last three sentences, I'll tell you to re-read the end of chapter seven very carefully. 

Marlene: Thanks, Marlene! **Though we all love naked Sage**, there was a more serious reason for my choice of attire. Mostly it was symbolic- he's unclothed and more vulnerable to talk about him being a whore and what not. If he was wearing clothes, then the effect might've not been so bad. It was partially psychological on my part. He was naked in the story because he was just getting up and I've kinda decided that, considering the cultural aspects of where they are, this is probably typical bedtime attire. Cye was buck naked when he was attacked, too- the nakedness here isn't for fan service. RSL should be posted as well, or at least the first of the prologues. 

Lady Apolla: Well, the next chapter wasn't finished yet- I can't post something that isn't done! And I'm a big Cye fan, too! Look at my name! Well, a lot of it wasn't Sage's fault, per se. Trulpa's a nut case, but I want to make her a master of psychological manipulation, which I'm developing. Are you talking about Kento? Well, you have to realize Kento was in a very difficult place. He was probably in a state of confusion and panic, and for some reason his instincts told him to not tell Cye. Considering the situation they're in, it's likely they're going to do things that, under other circumstances, would seem irrational or unwise. Aw. . .

~Dixxy


	10. Chapter Nine

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Nine: Healing

_This is SOOO bloody BORING!_ Cye thought to himself as he laid stretched out on his bed. It had been a week since his attack (or at least that's what Sage and Kento had told him) and he was still recovering from the injuries he'd sustained. Though his friends were both doing a superb job at making sure he was comfortable, it wasn't fun being confined to be a bed.

After waking up the afternoon after the ordeal, Cye had found himself in Sage's bed with Kento asleep across the foot and Sage flopped down in a chair a few feet away. Confused, he'd tried to get out of the bed and failed miserably. The "thud" produced when he'd hit the floor had been enough to wake his friends up and tell him what had happened. He was crippled.

_Temporarily, thank God,_ Cye reminded himself. Of course the first sight of his legs should have told him THAT- both legs were bright, tomato red with only a thin lair of skin covering his veins and muscles. In addition, they were out of shape and far too thin to walk on. They looked something like half-eaten apple cores dipped in red paint.

Sage had examined his currently useless legs a few times before he came up with the conclusion that he COULD heal him back to normal, even to a point where any signs of the attack would be gone or in the form of very light scars. It would take several sessions, but it was doable. None the less, Cye wasn't happy with the situation. But at least it was only temporary.

Much to his surprise, Trulpa was FURIOUS when she found out he'd nearly been killed and demanded that any gargoyle gremlin found in the castle was to be killed on sight. No one was told WHY this was so, but her servants listened to her. Already over one-hundred of them had been killed.

That bothered him. Evidently Trulpa wanted at least HIM alive, but for what reason? Cye wasn't overly sure about Kento and Sage. Trulpa had spoken to the blonde several days earlier and he'd tried to kill himself, after all, but was that her intent? Was she trying to drive them all crazy or something? There was also the possibility Trulpa planned to dispose of them in another way, which wasn't a horrible stretch of the imagination.

Though both of the demons could use magic and conduct rituals, Trulpa seemed to be better at sorcery than Talpa had been. Though Talpa certainly used rituals from time to time, he had an odd feeling that his sister was fonder of them than he was. In fact, he was almost certain Trulpa was preparing some rituals to use against the Senshi.

_Rituals that might involve US,_ Cye thought miserably. He really didn't want to hurt any of the Senshi, especially now that he had seen what they all looked like and knew a little about them. He'd told Kento and Sage about his discovery after his attack, letting them know that Trulpa was at least beginning to make plans. None of them could say if Talpa engaged in similar activities, but that, too, wasn't too hard to imagine.

It wasn't as if they were defenseless, however. Somehow, Kento and Sage had been able to convince Trulpa to let them move from their old rooms into a multi-bedroom "apartment" of sorts. Cye guessed that her panicky reaction to his attack had been a factor, but none the less their situation seemed a LITTLE safer. Were they still the prisoners of a madwoman in a realm where flesh-eating gremlins roamed about? Yes, but at least they were all in a more collected space, which in itself made them all feel safer. Now if something happened backup would be right there to help them.

Speaking of backup, the Ronins had no explanation as to who, or what, had saved Cye the night of his attack. Oh sure he'd be dead had it not been for Sage's healing powers all right, but SOMETHING had knocked the creatures away so Sage could get to him and SOMETHING had woken Halo up. Cye didn't think it was Trulpa, but he'd been so disoriented and distracted that night that he didn't remember what the aura felt like. He did, however, remember enough to know that it wasn't their captor. So then what was it? Could it have been the Ancient One's magic, or maybe even the Senshi's magic? 

"No. . . they don't know we exist. . ." Cye said to himself. Or at least it didn't seem likely that they did. If they did, however, they would probably only have a very vague understanding that there were more armors out there and the thought that Trulpa had three of them captive wouldn't cross their minds just yet. He was sure that at one point or another they'd figure out Trulpa had SOMETHING this out of the ordinary up her sleeve, but as to how long that took was another question all together.

"Hey, Cye!"

Cye looked up to see Kento coming towards him with a tray of food- from the smell of it, his friend had managed to find the ingredients his mother used in her homemade cooking. Cye could feel his mouth begin to water as he sniffed at the air. "Kento, that smells wonderful!"

"Your favorite- pork lo mein and sweet and sour chicken," he said, sitting next to Cye on the bed. Torrent pulled the tray closer and made good use of the chopsticks to feed himself. "So, how goes life in the confines of Casa de Ronin? Boring as all hell I can imagine."

"Yeah," said Cye. "But Sage seems to think I'll be walking in a few days. Maybe not running a marathon, but I should be good enough to do that much. The tendons and muscles are healing nicely and I might even have normal looking legs after this!" He stifled a forced laugh.

"If not, you could always wear baggy pants for the rest of your life," Kento mused.

"Kento!"

"I was kidding!"

Cye grumbled. "You'd better be, mate. Or else I'm going to smack you with a tidal wave so big you won't know up from down!" He smiled, gave a quick nod, and continued on with his meal. Kento burst of laughing, taking the joke in good humor as he always did.

Somehow, Kento had emerged as a pillar of strength for both him and Sage during their capture. Though Halo was their unspoken leader of sorts, it was the Warrior of Earth whom they turned to when they needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to vent to. Though they couldn't explain how or why, he seemed to be the most stable of the entire group. Sage had easily succumbed to whatever trash talk Trulpa had thrown at him and Cye had been horribly shaken by the attack.

_Then again, nothing's happened to Kento yet- it almost seems like it's a matter of time before something happens to him, too. Oh God, Kento,_ Cye thought as he looked forlornly at Kento, who was now staring at his lap, twiddling his thumbs with mild interest.

"Kento?"

"Huh?"

"You seemed quiet."

"Just thinking, that's all."

"About what?"

"You'd laugh if I told you."

"Kento. . . you've told me some pretty strange things before and I've kept a very straight face no matter how much I may have wanted to laugh. If you need to talk to me about something, just spit it out," said Cye. He smiled and leaned closer. "So tell me what's troubling you."

"Girls."

Cye was taken aback by this. Out of all the things that Kento could have been worried about, "girls" wasn't one he'd expected. Aside from the Senshi, the three hadn't thought very hard about the opposite sex. After all, it didn't seem very likely they'd be involved with any in the near future, so why waste their thoughts on it? They had bigger problems to deal with.

"I keep having this dream," Kento said. He shrugged and turned his head to look at Cye. "Well, maybe not a DREAM, but I'm asleep and I hear this girl's voice. I've never seen her, though. I know she's talking to me, and. . . well. . . I like it. She's always so nice and gentle and, you know, girl talk."

"Oh?" asked Cye. "Is it like when the Ancient talked to you-"

"No! Not like that!" said Kento. "The Ancient spoke to me like I was a student and he was the teacher. She was speaking to me like I was a friend. . . or. . . well. . . maybe even a. . . a. . . love. . . er. . . lover. . . or. . . something." He paused, blushing. He cleared his throat, then continued. "And I can always feel this aura around me, and it makes me feel safe and happy. But I'm not sure if this is one of Trulpa's tricks or something."

Cye was unsure of what to say. Kento was rarely this. . . wistful. . . and it was strange hearing him talk about this mystery voice. He wouldn't put it past Trulpa to lull them into a false sense of security, but this didn't seem like her style. None the less, Kento seemed very serious about this, as farfetched as it sounded. 

"Well, I don't know what to say."

"I didn't think you would," he said. Kento snorted. "Who am I kidding? Face it, Cye- this girl probably doesn't exist. What girl- aside from my mother- would want a guy like me?" He stood up and gestured at his body. "I'm not very tall or slender like Sage is- I'm kinda short and stocky."

"Kento, you're taller than I am!" Cye countered, surprised at Kento's concern over his physical appearance. "And your frame is solid muscle. Don't girls like that? Kento, you're not fat or something if THAT'S what has you all worked up." He sighed. "Is this about Sage?"

"NO! I wouldn't ever ask for THAT much attention," Kento thought. "But it isn't just that- I'm loud and brash and I have a temper. . . you'd get a girl sooner than me. You're so. . . sensitive and easy to talk to. Now girls LOVE that- if you wanted to you could get laid within a week."

Cye blushed at the mention. "Even with my legs?"

"They'll get better. At worst you might have a few light scars here or there, but Sage is taking great care of you," said Kento. "Still, that girl in particular probably doesn't exist. I mean, she's a voice in my head! I must be going crazy or something, because I. . . I hate this place."

"So don't we all. Things are getting worse much faster than they're getting better," said Cye. "It's been nearly two months- why, your birthday is in just a few weeks! It kind of puts things into perspective. You probably weren't even thinking about that before we were kidnapped, yet here it is right around the corner."

"That's a depressing thought."

"Your birthday?"

"No, the fact that it's already been this long," said Kento. He shrugged. "But I guess the birthday would count as a depressing point. Look at what happened to Sage on his sixteenth birthday- he tried to kill himself because Trulpa pushed some buttons that made him go psycho on us."

"I still wish I knew why he did that," Cye said.

"Why who did what?"

Both Ronins nearly jumped out of their skin. Kento turned to Sage and shot him a dirty look. "I hate you, Sage. Sometimes, I REALLY hate you." Sage smiled, slapped Kento on the back, and shooed the Ronin of Hardrock off the bed. "Time to try and heal Cye a little more?"

"Yup," said Sage. He turned to Cye. "I should have enough energy to finish the whole process right now, but I will warn you- walking won't be easy. Even if I had all the power in the world my powers can only go so far. You're probably going to look like you funneled a bottle of tequila or two for a while."

"So then wouldn't it be best to just wait until I'm fully healed?" asked Cye.

"No, it's not that- it's your legs themselves. You've been off your feet for so long that you might need some time to get back into it," said Sage. He took Cye's tray of food, placed it on the bedside end table, and pulled the sheets back to reveal his patient's limbs. Deciding to give the two some privacy, Kento bid them farewell and headed into his own room.

~

Yawning, Kento fell backwards onto his bed. He'd spent the remainder of the afternoon studying the next section of his spell book, which was on changing metals into different kinds of metal and rocks into precious gems. He'd practiced with a piece of lead and a rock from his training area to create a topaz and gold pendant. 

Placing the jewelry on his bedside dresser, Kento stared at the ceiling with disinterest. After Sage had finished with Cye, both had decided it was bed time. Such a serious injury was taking its toll on both of them, which he couldn't blame them for. Still, they were going to try and get Cye on his feet the next day and hopefully back to normal by the week's end. 

Kento sat up again, contemplating whether or not he should take a bath. Deciding it couldn't hurt, he stripped clean of his clothing, threw on his bathrobe, and proceeded to head towards the bathroom Trulpa had provided them in the apartment. Both of his roommates were sound asleep, which comforted Kento. At least they were resting well.

The bathroom was more like a spa than anything. It was a comfortable room done over in reds and greens, giving it an almost Christmas like atmosphere. There was no shower, but there was a huge marble tub that all three of them could have shared if they chose to. Located near the edge of the tub was a row of tassels, each one controlling the water flow, temperature, and even bubbles for a Jacuzzi type effect. Sage was considering using the Jacuzzi as part of Cye's recovery which made Kento guess that it wasn't there as a luxury item.

Once in the bathroom, Kento began to search through the small cupboard where they kept their soaps and towels. Once he found the desired materials, started to fill the tub with a shot of hot water. He discarded his bathrobe, sighed, and grasped his hand onto the edge of the tub.

Kento would have gotten in if he hadn't been interrupted. Before he could react, someone was behind him, ready to clamp their hand over his mouth and press a dagger to his throat. Startled, Kento tried to struggle against the intruder, stopping only once he realized how sharp the dagger was and how strong his attacker was in comparison to his own strength.

"So, Kento of the Hardrock. . . are you prepared for your doom?"

~

I'm such an evil bitch sometimes, aren't I?

Anyways, as a special treat for you, this chapter of _Consequences of Capture_ includes a special bonus mini story featuring what YOU all wanted!

~

You Asked For It!

SPECIAL BONUS STORY

By Dixxy

"Oh. . ."

At that moment, Sage was a number of things. One, he was confused, which was not a state of mind he enjoyed being in. Two, he and Rowen were in a vast nothingness with a large bottle of tequila. Three, he was ashamed of Rowen for downing half of the tequila. And four, he was stark naked.

"Oh, Mishta Tequila. . . I LOOOVE YOU!!!" Rowen cheered, raising the jug high above his head from his position on the "floor", or at least the equivalent to a floor in the vast nothingness. Already his shirt was soaked with the liquor and his eyes were somewhat glazed over from the effects of the alcohol. Grasping at his foot, Rowen tried to stand up, only to find he wasn't having much luck.

"Rowen. . . you need to put Mr. Tequila down before you pass out and choke on your own vomit," Sage said bitterly, trying to hide his nudity with his hands. "You're making a complete ass out of yourself and there are people reading this on the Internet right now. HAVE YOU NO SHAME!?"

Still very drunk, Rowen looked at Sage, then his eyes widened as he gasped and pointed at the blonde. "OH MY GAD! SAGE, YER STARK NEKKID! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY CLOTHES!" Rowen turned to the bottle of tequila. "Mishta Tequila, he'sh STARK NEKKID!" The bottle of tequila didn't say anything, but Rowen did put the open mouth of the bottle between his lips.   
"Rowen! Shut up! You're drunk! Stop drinking that stuff!"

"Yer shtill nekkid. Ya hafta put some clothes on."

"I KNOW THAT! AND YOU NEED TO PUT THE DAMN BOTTLE OF TEQUILA DOWN BEFORE YOU DIE FROM ALCOHOL POISONING OR ASPHYXIATION BY YOUR OWN DRUNK VOMIT YOU STUPID DRUNK!!!" At this point Sage was loosing his cool.

Rowen looked at Sage through half-open eyes, took another drink, and belched. 

Sage screamed at the top of his lungs.

~

The above was written on impulse in under ten minutes, so if you found it stupid, that's why. There was really no point to it other than to jab at the fact that there are people anxious to see **Rowen get wasted** and get more **naked Sage**. So that should tide you over for a little while. 

Okay, now that we've had our daily dosage of drunk Rowen and naked Sage, let's continue. 

For any _Weiß Kreuz _fans out there, I'm contemplating some ideas for that series. Also, I've recently delved into _MARS_ (a manga series), _Dragon Knights_ (another manga series), and _FAKE_ (yet another manga series plus an OAV that focuses on the fifth story in the series- probably won't write for this one despite how much I love Bikky). Don't forget I'm also into _Magic Knight Rayearth_ (manga and anime are both under my belt) as well as both _Lunar_ games and _Kingdom Hearts_. 

Crystal Cat-chan: Still have no friggin' clue what that was all about. *laughs* I don't like to consider myself a god or goddess, but yeah, you're right, Cye can't die. What the HELL is a Gimp??? Mmm. . . I think they're all beyond therapy. We actually had a discussion about this at a message board I practically live on (though it started with Yuli and progressed into other things). 

Firestorm: Thanks! Well. . . if you found your friend half-dead on the floor what would YOU do? Meh. I deleted most of that fic, too. Well, I might have to, though it'll probably be darker than what it was originally gonna be. Why? Because I'm turning into a darker writer. Think I should go into full-blown horror/thriller fiction (a la Stephen King, Dean Koontz, ect.)? 

Harry: You're welcome, Harry. Me? A teacher? Well, I've tried my hand at writing editorials before, though I probably won't post them here. Hell, none of 'em are even finished yet!

~Dixxy


	11. Chapter Ten

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Ten: The Divine Machine

"Had enough?"

Kento gasped for breath, hugging his bruised and battered body as he coughed and hacked. Struggling, he clumsily got to his feet, kicking up dust from the ground below, causing more difficulty in his breathing. He fell back to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes from frustration. Every bone in Kento's body was screaming with pain while his mind cried out from sheer humiliation.

The Dark Warlords laughed gaily at Kento's seemingly futile efforts. For sport, Osiris had dared Cale, the stealthiest of the Warlords, to grab one of the Ronins for the sole purpose of making them scream and cry out in pain. He'd been whipped, beaten, punched, kicked, and slapped senseless by the four Warlords, who were now, evidently enough, fully under Trulpa's control. 

And Kento was bloody and beaten, huddling on the dirt floor of a Dynasty stable.

"He looks so pathetic," Dais mocked. The Warlord of Illusion, being his rival, had been the cruelest of the four. He hit harder and more often, even to a point where Sehkment and Osiris had pulled him off, reminding the illusionist that Trulpa needed Kento to stay alive. Still, all four of them were letting him have it. For fun. For their own amusement, they were tormenting him like he was some kind of captured animal that they could prod, poke, and man handle without the bat of an eye.

_They're treating me like an animal. An animal, a caged animal_, Kento thought, fighting the tears that were now freely flowing over his cheeks, mixing with the blood and dirt the beating had placed there. Kento felt humiliation wash over him- here he was crying in front of the Dark Warlords.

A snicker sliced through the air. Dais was speaking. "What a pity. The little man is crying. Perhaps we've been too harsh on the poor baby," he said, emphasizing each word, stabbing Kento with emotional daggers in the process. "What do you say we break him even more?"

"Oh? How so?" asked Cale. His phrasing of the question wasn't sincere- it was like he was joking and already knew what Dais was alluding to. Slowly, Kento looked up at the Warlords, shivering from cold and fear. What were they going to do to him now? Wasn't this enough?!

_No more. . . oh God, please, no more. . ._

Sehkment licked around the outside of his lips. "Don't take this the wrong way, Hardrock. We don't, as you mortals like say it, swing 'that way'. But did you know that throughout history several ancient civilizations have believed that sodomy causes a man to loose his manhood?" His lips curled into a cruel grin as Kento realized what they were planning to do. "This will be the ultimate blow."

"No!" Kento screamed. Slowly, the Warlords began to advance on him. Scrambling, Kento scurried backwards, even more away of his naked state and nearly powerless position to stop them. His crying intensified as fear began to race through his entire being. Out of all the things that could have happened to him. . . this was something he wouldn't ne able to STAND to live with.

Soon, the Warlords had Kento backed into a corner, all eyeing him crazily. Even though he KNEW that Dais, Sehkment, and Cale had all been brainwashed or something, and he KNEW they wouldn't do this under normal circumstances, the fact remained that they weren't in control. And Osiris. . . he didn't know anything about the new bearer of Cruelty, but this alone was enough to send shivers up and down his spine.

Roughly, Dais grabbed his shoulders and pulled him forward. Their foreheads touched as a menacing grin glazed over his eyes. "Good-bye, little man- this is the last day you can carry the title. After this. . . well, I don't know what we'll call you THEN." Kento's eyes widened as he tried to break free from Dais' grasp, but to no avail. Even with all the strength he had, the toll of the beating had rendered him almost immobile.

_Oh God no. . ._

"STOP IT!"

Everything stopped, especially once the Warlords realized Lady Trulpa was in the stable with them and their catch. All four turned to their mistress to see she was NOT smiling. For the first time since he'd known her, Kento was very happy Trulpa was upset. "Mistress Trulpa!" Osiris said, trying to salvage the strange meeting as much as he could. "You'll be pleased to know that we're in the process of breaking Hardrock's spirit! See? We've beaten him bloody! And now we're going to deprive him of his manhood!!!"

"Wouldn't it suck for the little man to loose his virginity this way?" Dais said, moving a hand to his cheek to stroke it gently. Kento shuddered, more tears falling as he gasped and continued his futile efforts to get away. Dais yanked him roughly forward. "Kento here is the strongest of the Ronins- breaking his spirit would only benefit you, my lady."

"You IDIOTS!" Trulpa snapped, shaking her fists at the Warlords. Her long, white hair seemed to frizz up slightly as her eyes widened and became more menacing. "Do you realize how valuable he is!? All three of them can truthfully claim virginity- do you know how INVALUABLE a virgin is to me!?" 

"So?" Osiris countered. "Look, you don't want these boys full or spirit and hope. Breaking their spirit will dwindle their efforts to defy you and possibly escape. Rape is an EXCELLENT way to do this, and if he's a virgin that'll make it worse! Sex is an important aspect of the human life, and if we ruin it for him we'll ruin his entire existence! He'll probably never fall in love with a woman and won't even go near so much as a two-cent hooker. THIS is the ultimate humiliation!"

"No, you fool!" Cale said, his eyes darkening as well. "Trulpa's right. Many dark magic rituals involve virgins. In fact, nine of the ten most devastating ceremonies require virgin sacrifices! They won't work any other way, and if Trulpa wanted to perform one of these rituals, she has three virgins at her disposal!" He turned back to Trulpa and bowed. "I apologize, Lady Trulpa. I did not realize that their virginity meant so much to you. Are you planning something for them?"

Trulpa shook her head. She had calmed, but still seemed displeased. "As of now, no, I don't. But if an opportunity arises I WOULD like the Ronins to remain virginal." With a flick of her wrist, she shooed the Warlords away, leaving Kento alone in his corner. With a sway of her hips, Trulpa advanced on Kento, knelt down, and gently scratched his chin. Kento pulled away, not wanting the physical contact. "And besides, if ANYONE in this Dynasty is to take **ANY** of them to their bed, it'll be **me**."

Kento felt his stomach lurched. He wasn't sure if Trulpa was serious (with her it was sometimes hard to tell the truth from mocking comments), but he did NOT want to become Trulpa's sex toy. That, he felt, would be even more degrading than what the Warlords wanted to do to him. They would've stopped after that one time- Trulpa would've kept him locked up in her room so she could use him whenever she wanted.

Trulpa seemed to sense his unrest, but didn't look at him. Roughly, she yanked him to his feet and blindly brushed off his shoulder, sending nervous shivers up and down his spine. "I wouldn't touch you or either of your little friends with a ten foot pole in THAT way, Hardrock," she said. "Too pure for my liking. Besides, I'd want someone who would last more than five seconds."

Though Kento was SLIGHTLY insulted by the comment (as well as embarrassed due to the nature of the insight), he refused to say anything. That might incite Trulpa to force him into her bed ANYWAYS just to traumatize him. And the very idea frightened the living daylights out of him.

Unlike most of the boys he'd grown up with, Kento regarded the issue of sex, love, and virginity very seriously. He knew boys who'd had girls as young as thirteen and boys who'd had so many girls they'd lost count already. Though this made them seem like "studs" in the eyes of their peers, Kento was sickened by the ideas. Maybe it was his armor affecting him at an early age, or maybe even influence from his family, but Kento thought his feelings and views on the issue were more typical of a female. Though he didn't like to be feminine in most areas, this topic was the exception.

The topic of sex scared him. After growing up in a world with high teenage pregnancy rates, HIV and AIDS, and meaningless nights in tacky motels, Kento had decided that the whole subject was to be avoided at all costs. Oh sure he liked to flirt with girls, and he'd even kissed a few in his life, but he didn't dare go any farther than that. 

His parents had raised him with very high moral standards and had beaten the concept of love and trust into his head from a fairly young age. When his father had given him "the talk", he'd said that when a man makes love to a woman he is giving her his all- his heart, his mind, his body, and his soul. Now the idea of loosing a lover due to a fight or worse was something he couldn't stand the thought of- Kento didn't want to share that much with anybody and then have them walk away. If Trulpa used him like that then she's have access to these things. 

"Come, Hardrock- we have things to do," Trulpa said. She shooed the Warlords away, and each teleported away, presumably to whatever rooms they may have had. His captor eyed him up and down. "Though I have no plans to take you, I must admit I like what I see, Kento- you're quite handsome and your body is simple superb. But. . ." Trulpa snapped her fingers, and Kento found himself clothed in a pair of loose fitting cotton shorts best described as boxers. Much to his surprise, he also saw that he was free of dirt and blood cakes, though his body was still lined with bruises and small cuts and scrapes.

"What's your game, Trulpa?" Kento asked.

Trulpa grinned. "The Divine Machine."

~

The Divine Machine was something Kento decided he didn't like despite the name. He'd been strapped spread eagle to a long, high-off the ground table with several round, golden disks connected to thin strands of a black thread connected to various parts of his body. Directly above him was a large, blue bowl that was just hovering in mid air, though he guessed it could have been suspended by a string he couldn't see from his current position. On ether side of his face, clear glass walls kept him staring straight ahead.

Through the corner of his eye, Kento could see Trulpa was puttering around the room, humming to herself as she lit candles and tinkered with other ominous looking décor. Kento decided the fact she was humming wasn't a good thing- humming usually meant a good mood, and Trulpa in a good mood meant she was up to something he wasn't going to like. 

Since he was more angry than afraid (it had been some time since he'd been strapped to the table and his terror had somewhat subsided despite the fact he had no idea what was happening), Kento decided to vocalize his thoughts. "What's your plan, Trulpa? Why do you have me tied up like this and what the hell are you doing with all this stuff in here?"

Trulpa remained silent for a few seconds, but she stopped for a moment before turning to face him. Slowly, she walked towards him and bent over slightly to stare at him in the eye. "Did you know that while you mortals can stand to listen to another human tell you your fortunes, you can't stand to see them yourself?"

Kento blinked, unsure of what she meant. "Pardon?"

"Quite simply, your mind isn't strong enough to handle your own fate," said Trulpa. She turned and pulled herself up onto the table, gripping the side as she kicked her legs back and fourth. With one free hand, she lightly traced the lines of Kento's chest, causing him to squirm and twitch. Trulpa snorted. "Mere mortals cannot handle the future. When they see their own futures, the knowledge of knowing what happens to them drives them insane. It is simply something the mind of a human can't comprehend or grasp firmly enough."

Suddenly, Kento understood EXACTLY what Trulpa was up to. The word "divine" wasn't talking about something to do with heaven or religion. The "divine" Trulpa was talking about concerned divination- the kind of magic used to see into the future. The Divine Machine was going to show him his future!

And if what Trulpa said was right. . .

"NO!" he screamed, struggling against the bonds. "You, you can't!"

"I can, and I will, Hardrock," she said. "I don't need your sanity to use your powers. But someone clinically insane is less likely to try and escape, and I have ways to effectively control the insane to my liking. Just think, Hardrock. You'll be reduced to drooling, giggling idiot in just a few minutes. Your memories, your thoughts, you feelings, they'll be gone soon enough." Trulpa chuckled. "It was nice knowing you, Kento." She snapped her fingers, the trinkets in the room began to illuminate and make noise, and the blue bowl began to descend from above.

Kento screamed again, continuing to struggle and buck against his binds. No! He didn't want to loose his sanity! His identity! He turned his head as much as he could, but the guards on either side kept him from going very far. Tears streamed down his face as he moaned in defeat. "No. . . no. . . NOOOOO!!!!"  
The blue bowl surrounded his field of vision, then morphed into a tight fitting mask that enveloped his entire face. Kento began to flail his head around madly, screaming in terror through the constraint that was clearly not going to let go of him. In the distance, he could hear Trulpa cackling evil. 

_She's won. . . oh my God, she's won. . ._

And then everything went white.

~

__

Kento saw a slightly older version of himself running through some sort of an urban setting, his slightly longer hair whipping behind him as he ran. He was in normal Mortal Realm clothing, but he didn't seem excited about the prospect that he was back where he belonged. Rather, he looked terrified for his life, as if it was going to end very shortly. 

Why am I running so fast?

_Kento's question was answered a long, bone-thin creature bounded after him. The creature was covered in matted blue fur with a shock of white on its head that flapped behind it. Long, yellowing claws and teeth were bared wide as a huge tongue lolled out of the demon's mouth like some sort of a deranged dog. Its eyes were wide and hollow like in appearance with a greenish yellow hue, its nose consisting of no more than two slits on its face. _

Is. . . is that thing chasing me!?

_"Your soul . . ."_

The voice belonged to the mysterious creature. But what did it mean?

"Your soul. . . IS MINE!!!"

Everything faded to black.

~

Kento was back in Trulpa's cold lab, his skin beginning to get goose-bumps from his nearly naked state and the cold metal beneath him. He whimpered, wondering how long it would be before his conscious train of thought snapped and he was no more. His binds were all gone and the blue bowl device was no where to be see. He sat up and dangled his legs over the edge of the table, shuddering to himself.

He looked up at saw Trulpa was staring at him, a slightly confused look in her eyes. Kento turned away. "I hate you, Trulpa." Tears began to escape the corners of his eyes again. "You. . . you. . ." He turned back to Trulpa. "You're one sick, sick demon, and I hope the Senshi make your existence a living hell!!! I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL!!!"

"You're still sane!?" she said, sounding surprised.

Kento stopped. "What did you say?"

"You. . . you shouldn't be sane! You should be cowering in a corner rambling on about goat's milk or strawberry eggnog!" Trulpa seemed frantic and distraught, his long fingers leafing through her hair as she began to pace back and fourth. "No, no, no, this can't be right. . . why didn't the Divine Machine work!? Why didn't it work!?"

Kento's eyes widened. "It. . . it didn't work?!" His face pulled into that of a relieved grin. "Then what I saw WASN'T my real future?! I'm not going to go insane!?" Kento laughed out loud, feeling victorious over what had just happened. Though he'd been beaten and nearly raped and nearly stripped of his sanity, he'd overcome it.

Trulpa, however, paused. "You SAW something? And you're still sane?" she said aloud. Realization seemed to come over her. Kento was confused, but then watched as she went into a fit of rage, smashing her fist into the nearest structure. Kento jumped, not liking her sudden temper. "GO AWAY!!! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT!!!"

Interpreting that as a "go to your room" command, Kento teleported to the apartment. 

~

I wasn't sure how to start this chapter off, and I ended up re-writing it a few times before I settled on this. Written with help from the image song "Lonely Soldiers" and a loop function on my CD player. Damn, that's a moody song.

Part of this chapter was some minor setup for _Dark Chocolate, White Diamonds _with some mention of _A Tale of Two Torrents_. We've seen some MINOR alluding to other themes in the series (such as Anubis and Cye, Sage's confusing relationship with Sam, and a number of issues pertinent to everyone's favorite couple). I'm spending a lot of time with Kento and Keisha's relationship because 1) I like it and 2) you guys really like it, too. 

I think I'm done with severe character trauma for now, though I might go back to Sage later.

I got a really good response to that little story I did at the end of the last chapter (with drunk Rowen and naked Sage). I'm very surprised! 

I made up a timeline for the series and discovered that I had screwed up with some of the dates I gave. Once I have everything worked out I'll release a corrected timeline with things I want you guys to see. Other things I will not post because, heh, they reveal things I don't want revealed just yet.

Harry: Now you know. Poor Kento, but I think this chapter explained a little. Yech, I don't like Yahoo, but unfortunately it's really the only mailing group list out there right now. Bastards. There are a few companies I truly LOATHE, and Yahoo! is definitely on that list. 

Crystal Cat-chan: Oh, okay. I kinda get that now. Um, apology accepted? *blinks* We can all see what's happened to poor Kento, but the real question is what happens next. Well, this experience certainly changes Kento, I'll say that much. Ah, the food thing? The boys probably can't or won't eat demon food, plus, the Warlords and Warladies probably need human ingredients, too. It's not really a life-or-death issue in the story, so I never really put much thought into it. There's probably some sort of a really big-ass pantry somewhere in the Dynasty that they have free-access to. Maybe I can have a scene or something show how this all works. Hmm, evil Easter Bunnies?

Firestorm: Yeah. Things aren't quite as bad for a while. You gotta realize that Sage's suicide attempt, Cye's attack, and Kento's beating/near-crazy spell all happened within two or three weeks. I think I'd want a break after all THAT. The horror thing is something I'm only thinking about- yeah, I can dish it out, but I'm not very good at handling it. 

Bunch-o-Nuts: Parents suck in that aspect, don't they? And I'd love to see your full dissection of my work ^_^. 

Ezzyelf: No clue. The original crappy version of CoC was only one prologue and fourteen parts long. To give you a slight idea, chapter eleven in the original marked the start of Trulpa's war with the Senshi, which is still several months (their time) away. Chapter Five would be the much, MUCH milder and watered-down version of Chapters 4-11 for this story, which had all three boys in those gargoyle structure things again. Yeah, that would've sucked, too, but quite frankly it wasn't very original on my part. This is better, isn't it? So my guess is that it'll extend anywhere from twenty to thirty parts, but I don't know how long it'll be in the end. _Ronin Senshi Legends_ and _The Armor of the Soul_, when I finish those re-writes, will be monstrous. As it stands, RSL was in the mid thirties and _Soul_ was sixty chapters- SIXTY! Actually, that one could go a number of ways. It's a long turning point in the story- _Dragonia_ will probably be of a similar length for two reasons. One, THAT'S a major turning point in its own right. . . and I owe my readers some serious Rowen/Ryo quality time- sorry, not as a couple yaoi fans. **Even if that would leave room for some Rona/Ria stuff that would be ever-so-pleasing to a certain Mr. Harry2**. -_-*

~Dixxy


	12. Chapter Eleven

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Eleven: Seer

By the time Kento got back to the now dark apartment he and his friends shared he was frantic. Even if he was still sane. . . well. . . what if the effect was just being delayed a little? What if he was about to snap like a twig any second? Maybe Trulpa was just being impatient with her machine and it really had worked. Maybe it was going to painful when he sanity went away- after all, how do you know what it felt like when a sane person suddenly went insane?

Kento was pacing back and fourth in the hallway connecting the rooms, shedding tears and looking around frantically. He was breathing heavily, his heart was pounding, and he could feel every individual pore on his body secreting drops of sweat. Kento was panicking- he was going to go insane! He was going to loose it!

"Kento!"

Kento saw that Sage had apparently woken up. The blonde teenager was standing in the frame of his door, his arms folded across his chest as he glared at Kento. Sage's hair was disheveled, his face was paler than usual, and he seemed to be giving off a dangerous amount of static electricity. Even though it was obvious Sage was displeased with SOMETHING, Kento didn't care. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around Sage's legs, sobbing like a baby.

"Oh God, Sage, don't let me loose it! Don't let me loose it!" he pleaded.

"Loose what?" Sage asked, sounding irritated and upset.

"MY SANITY!!!"

"Your sanity?" Halo sounded skeptical.

"Oh Sage, it was awful! The Warlords tried to. . . to. . . and then. . . and then. . . Trulpa. . . oh Sage she said. . . and then. . . OH GOD SAGE I'M SO SCARED! HELP ME, PLEASE! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Kento began to cry harder and now had Sage's legs in a death grip. 

The Warrior of Light looked down at Kento in shock, his crankiness and lack of sleep now little more than a memory. Sage didn't have the virtue of Wisdom for nothing- it was very cleat that something awful had happened to Kento. His throat was going dry as he watched his friend continue to break down before him, trying to find the words to say. "Kento?" he asked. 

"Is everyone all right out there?" Cye's voice chirped from his room. 

Sage looked up towards the direction of Cye's bedroom. He shook his head, even though Cye couldn't possibly see him. "I don't think so- Kento's worried about his sanity, and he was talking about the Warlords and Trulpa! I think something happened to him!" Sage called back. He looked down at his friend and sighed. "C'mon Kento, get up. Let's go into Cye's room and find out what's going on with you." Almost reluctantly, Kento let go as Sage used his powers to illuminate the apartment.

If eyes could scream, Kento would have been deaf when Sage looked at him in the better light. "Kento! What the HELL happened to you! You're covered in bruises and cuts!" he said, his voice full of fear and concern as he put an arm around Kento's shoulder and led him into Cye's room. "You look horrible! Not as bad as Cye a while back there but HOLY SMOKES what the hell did they do to you!?"

"Oh God, Sage, I don't wanna go crazy on you guys. . . I just can't. . ."

"Go crazy?" Cye asked, sitting up in his bed as Sage led Kento to the edge. He sat the other teen down, then took a seat on the other side. Kento was still crying, causing Cye to extend a hand to his shoulder. Softly, Kento covered the hand with one of his own. "Kento, what's wrong?"

"Oh God. . ." he said. He sniffled, wiping away some of his tears with the back of his hand. "I, I was getting ready to, to take a bath when one of the War, Warlords grabbed me out of the bathroom," he said. He clenched his eyes tight. "They beat me. Everything hurt, and then they tried to. . . to. . ."

Cye's expression disappeared from his face all together as the blonde stared at Kento in shock. "Don't. . . don't tell me. . . not THAT!" said Sage, his eyes wide. Kento went into more fits of hysterics, causing both of his friends to embrace him tightly as he sobbed. Cye and Sage exchanged looks- neither of them had ever seen Kento cry like this, and it was very disturbing to see someone as strong as Kento- both emotionally and physically- reduced to this tear-wracked form. Had the Warlords really done. . . THAT. . . to their friend?

"Kento. . . calm down. . . you're going to get through this. . . we won't let them do that to you again. . ." Cye said, soothingly rubbing his best friend's back. "Once I get my legs back they'll have to go through me AND Sage, and even IF Trulpa has control over our armors we know enough magic to put up a fight. We'll either protect you or die trying."

Kento shook his head. "They didn't rape me," he said. More sniffles, and he hugged himself. Cye and Sage felt a little bit of relief wash over them, but they both got the idea that this wasn't the end of it. Kento continued, holding Cye's hand for support. "Before they could get to me, Trulpa came and started yelling at them." He was beginning to compose himself somewhat, but it was obvious he was still distraught. "She said that she wants us to remain virgins because some rituals require that. And. . . well, she said if anyone was going to have any of us it was going to be her-" Sage and Cye cringed. "She isn't actually interested in that," he finished. 

Kento swallowed hard. "What happened next was worse. Trulpa brought me to this. . . this THING called the Divine Machine. Oh GOD, that was horrible!" He turned his head away. "She tied me down and made me see my own future! And now, now that it's over and done with I-"

"The DIVINE MACHINE!?" Cye exclaimed. "Kento, she used that horrendous device on you!?" Kento nodded, his bottom lip trembling. His friend's eyes widened in surprise. "But. . . nothing happened to you! You're still Kento! Did the machine even work!?"

"I, I don't know," said Kento.

Sage pulled away from the tight huddle, confusion plastered on his face. "Um, exactly what is this thing you're talking about? I don't get it," Sage said. "Shouldn't something with the word 'divine' in it be a good thing and not a bad thing? And the future? Kento, what-"

"In this case 'divine' means 'divination', not something from heaven," said Cye. "You don't know what that is, do you, Sage?" The blonde shook his head, seemingly slightly ashamed that he didn't understand the meaning of a word his friends were very familiar with. "Don't worry about that, the topic probably never came up or something. It's not exactly a common topic. Divination is, well, seeing in to the future. Like fortune telling."

"Oh. So. . . Trulpa hooked up Kento so some automated fortune teller?" he asked.

Kento shuddered. "Yeah. She did."

Cye continued. "Since I've been stuck in this damned bed, I've been doing a lot of reading. The Divine Machine Kento's talking about showed up in a few of the books I've looked through. Basically, it lets a person see their future, or rather forces a person to see their future," he said. He turned to Kento with worry. "Trouble is, humans aren't meant to see their own future. Oh sure we can handle the occasional symptoms of _deja veux_ or even a few freaky dreams that may show us what could happen, but a full-blown vision of the future is something we weren't meant to see. As a result, our minds self-destruct on us."

"That's why I'm upset! I'm going to go insane!" Kento said.

Sage stared at Cye. "Cye, are you-"

"NO!" Cye said, shaking his head, but he seemed to be slightly happier than he had been. "This happens IMMEDIATELY after the vision occurs. If ANYTHING was going to happen Kento would already be insisting he's Napoleon and ramming into walls head first, but in case you haven't noticed he's still our Kento. Extremely upset, but he's still Kento."

"The effect can't be delayed?" Kento asked, sniffling.

"Nope," said Cye, shaking his head. "At best it would be a few seconds, maybe even a minute for the vision to sink it, but by now it's sunk." His eyes widened. "So you were able to survive a session with the Divine Machine without going insane. Kento, do you have any idea what this means?"

Kento made a high-pitched squeaking noise. "She isn't going to do that again, is-"

"Of course not!" said Cye. He smiled, then laughed. "Trulpa might've done us a favor."

"Pardon?" asked Sage.

"MOST human minds can't handle the future, but some of them CAN," said Cye.

Sage raised an eyebrow. "So. . . Kento can see the future and not crack like an egg?"

"Could you be a LITTLE more sensitive around me!?" Kento asked grumpily, now hugging one of Cye's pillows. "In case you've forgotten, I was beaten to a pulp, sexually assaulted by four men AND hooked up to a machine that was supposed to break my mind to the point of no return. I would prefer it if you DIDN'T compare my head to an EGG." Then, he turned to Cye. "Cye, why would I be able to handle that?"

"In general, we as humans can't handle it UNLESS we're gifted," said Cye. "True psychics do exist in both our world and this world, and they have these visions almost every day without going crazy. Simply put, their mind is strong enough to withstand the surprise and shock of seeing into the future no matter how bad it may seem." He turned to Kento. "If I'm right. . . you're psychic."

Kento stared at Cye in disbelief and denial. "No way, Cye. I'm NOT psychic."

"Well, how do you know that?" asked Sage.

"Because how can I have EXTRA mental abilities if I don't have REGULAR mental abilities?!" Kento snapped. He was now on his feet, glaring daggers at his friends as he lost his temper. But NOT in a way either of them had ever seen him do so before. "Let's face it, I'm not smart. The Warlords played with my head and did a damn good job at it! They couldn't have possibly done that with any of you! Oh sure, Dais played that game with the illusion that made you and Ryo attack each other, Cye, but Sage saw right through it and I would have LOVED to see Dais try to pull that one by Rowen! Besides, if I'm so psychic, then WHY didn't I see all of THIS coming?! Why didn't I see Cye's attack or Trulpa's talk with you, Sage? Why did I see the three of us getting kidnapped to the Dynasty again!? WHY didn't I see the three of us getting tortured in Talpa's prison!? WHY DIDN'T I SEE THE WHOLE DAMNED WAR AGAINST TALPA THAT'S STOLEN OUR INNOCENCE AND RUINED OUR LIVES!? Sage, YOU were supposed to be the heir to the Date clan, one of the most well-known and admired clans in the entire country of Japan! Cye, with the way you swim you should've been a world-class swimmer in the Olympics! Even I was supposed to inherit my father's restaurant and carry on the family business! Don't you see that Trulpa's fucked us all over!? We're not going to get out of here anytime soon! We can't just go back to our lives and expect to escape all the heat our disappearance will cause! Even if we ever DO get out of here!" 

Sage and Cye were stunned by Kento's sudden lash out against them. His eyes were red from tears and his chest was heaving with each breath he took. Suddenly, it was apparent that Kento HAD changed. He was still Kento and he was still sane, but he wasn't who he had been several months earlier.

Kento swallowed hard, stopped, and quickly but smoothly sat back down on Cye's bed. The pause was long and pregnant, as if he was slowly recalling something. "I'm so sorry. . . I. . . I can't take this!" He sniffled. Kento began to shake his head before he began to cry again. "This is. . . it's true! It must be true! Oh God, I never thought it but it's REALLY, REALLY TRUE!!!"

Sage pulled Kento towards himself and Cye, the two supporting their friend from behind. The blonde held the crying teen's hand while Cye brushed a few loose strands of hair away from his face. "Kento. . . it's all right. . . you being a seer doesn't chance anything between the three of us. . ."

"You. . . you don't understand," said Kento, sniffling again. "I. . . I. . ."

"What, Kento?" Sage asked gently. His eyes widened. "Has this happened before?"

Kento sat up and pulled his knees into chest. "I. . . I guess I tried to forget this, but, yeah, it kind of did happen before," he said. Kento looked up at the ceiling. "When I was a kid, I could hear voices in my head- I know it sounds really stupid and really crazy but it's true. It was usually my family's voices, but it scared me because their lips weren't moving. And other times I could see things just before they happened, like a glass of milk getting knocked over or I knew who was going to come out on top in sports games like baseball or horse racing."

"So this has been going on for a long time?" Sage asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" asked Cye. "During the war we-"

"It DID go on for a long time, yeah, but not for TOO long. When I was seven I happened to walk past a church where an exorcism was going on- the guy was hearing voices too, I guess. Well, the priest trying to get the devil out of the man's body, or whatever it is they do, was screaming and yelling and waving all of this stuff around, and the man on the floor was screaming and convulsing. . . I was frightened! What if that was me some day? What if that awful thing happened to me?"

"You were so scared you stopped hearing the voices and stopped seeing things, then tried to forget it ever happened so it couldn't come back," said Sage. "I get it now. Your powers shut off as a self-defense mechanism because you were so frightened of what might happen to you if you kept developing those powers AND you locked away all your memories of having those powers as a kid as well. Kento, that's incredible!" He smiled softly. "Do you realize that even with someone like Rowen on our team you probably have the strongest mind out of the five of us?"

"That's bull."

"He's right, Kento," Cye said. "Rowen and even Sage might be smart, but there are some things you can comprehend that they could never comprehend in their entire lifetimes. You can, or at least you could, read minds, and you can see into the future. Further more, we could use this as an ace in the hole. Even if she knows you're a seer, Trulpa can't do anything about it if you see her demise or something."

Kento shivered. "What about my own?"

Cye paled. "Is. . . is that what you saw?"

"This blue demon was chasing me and said to me 'Your soul is mine'," he said. He looked at the ceiling. "Is that how I'm going to die? Am I going to die at the hands of some furry blue stick?" Kento sighed. "I wasn't that much older, either- maybe a year at the most."

Sage frowned. "Well. . . did you see yourself actually die?"

"No. The. . . vision, I guess, stopped right after it spoke," he said. Kento's eyes widened. "You think this means I might survive that? Because that thing seemed to have the advantage, and I alone- I didn't see you guys or any chicks that might've been the Senshi."

"Like you would've known who it was you were looking at even if you did see them? Neither of you have SEEN what the Senshi look like," said Cye. He leaned back on his pillow. He shrugged. "Not that that's your fault, at any rate. It was dumb luck I saw what I saw."

Sage sighed. "We should have a talk about that so we know our game plan."

"Are you sure this is a good time for that?" Cye asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's late, Kento's been through bloody hell and back and-" Sage shook his head. Cye stopped understanding that Sage was referring to a later time. "All right, I get it now. I would suggest that we give ourselves at least a few more days- I should be walking a little better by then and Kento might've had some emotional recovery by then."

"Right," said Kento. "And maybe I could try and get a better hold on-"

"Absolutely not!" Sage snapped. Kento began to whimper, and the blonde immediately changed his expression to one of high concern and care. "No, that's not what I meant! You need some time to recollect yourself before you go delving into the world of the future. Okay? I promise I'll even help you out if you want me to if you'd just wait a few days!"

Kento sighed. "I don't need your help. . ." he said. "I think I need to do this on my own anyways. But still, thank you for offering." He snorted. "And if it'll make ya happy, I'll spend the next few days cowering in the corner of my room damning the world around me. Sound like a plan to you?"

Sage growled. "He'll be fine. Kento will be JUST. FREAKIN'. FINE."

~

Yeah. I'd say Kento reached his limit in this chapter. 

I'm sure by now you've noticed I use words like "damn", "hell", "ass", "bitch", and the like. However, some of the stronger swears I rarely, if ever, use. The reason? The above words, I feel, get used a lot in normal everyday language. Really, "hell" and "damn" are used so often it's difficult to call these swear words now and in the coming years they probably won't be (think about it- stuff like "crap" used to be considered swearing). However, the "f" word is still considered to be very vulgar and I only use it when writing to express an EXTREME, NEGATIVE emotion, usually in a case where someone blows up like Kento did. The "s" word, another very vulgar word, I'm more liberal with for some reason. 

Crystal Cat-Chan: Don't worry, he's okay! Ugh I'm not fond of it either. Okay, so he'd probably loose to Rowen in a brains vs. brains match up, but who wouldn't loose to Blue Boy? Kento's a real sweetheart. Yeah, poor Kento. But nothing happened to him in terms of THAT. Well, as you can see Sage and Cye have helped him a great deal in this chapter. I love cliffhangers. . . unless someone else writes them. But I can understand their amusement. Ever read _Demons in the Doorway, Monsters Down the Hall_? If you haven't go read it, but there's a MAJOR cliff-hanger type thing in there and I went berserk when the story was first published. Yes! Kind of , but this chapter explained that a little. Well, kind-of. The next chapter talks a little more about the history of the Dynasty.

Harry: Yes. But we should all know Trulpa expects things from the Ronins because of Cye. Oh, I was just teasing you, Harry, and you know it so :P ^_~ And I know you won't- sure I'm open to suggestions but I write the stories! BWAHAHAHAHA!! YAY! I CAN MAKE PEOPLE HAPPY!

Marlene: Awesome! Good luck to you. Go girl, go girl, it's your birthday, go girl. . . Hold on. Let me get this straight. You like my stories. . . yet I'm a meanie. Oh, wait, it's because I'm cruel when I leave y'all with cliffhangers, huh? ^_^ Bye!

Sakura 123: Thanks! Well, maybe more of a "thriller" or "suspense"- a lot of it is psychological horror, too. Most of the horror is comes from this past streak of chapters that contain horrible events, like Cye's attack. I want this to eventually become their psychological hell. However, I don't have much time left to work with- for them (as in their time, not our time), the next chapter starts towards the end of November. The next story to feature them starts around May/June, but this story should end around March. I've got a timeline I've been trying to sort out that shows a lot of important dates (or estimations of around when they probably occurred). This includes years and months. More than likely I'll figure out a way to get this timeline to you guys here at FF.Net (probably a link to my site somewhere). It's VERY intricate and includes events that occurred thousands of years before the Mystical Armors were even created. Trulpa's really not STUPID, per se- she's actually kinda crazy- not silly crazy, clinically insane crazy. Trulpa isn't and probably won't ever be the best villain I will ever write- Sheila McConner, Commander Curtis (_Chrono Cross_ fanfiction), and Grams are probably the best villains I've written to date. Sheila McConner is a sex-obsessed babe who does some awful things to Cye in my story _End of Innocence_, Curtis enjoys using disgustingly cruel tactics in times of war, and Grams. . . you have to read _Dark Chocolate, White Diamonds_ to understand what kind of a piece of crap she is. I've got another piece of crap whose full list of crimes hasn't quite been fully revealed yet. Well, I can see you're a big Xena fan. . .

Bunch-O-Nuts: Whoa, for a second there you scared me. Have my reviewers been shallow butt kissers all this time only to have Bunch-O-Nuts speak the truth!? Apparently not. Good, I still kick ass. Hey, life happens, don't sweat it. Well, Ryo and Rowen get their own epic adventure, don't worry about it. I just need get it written, that's all!

~Dixxy


	13. Chapter Twelve

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Twelve: Ray of Hope

Time, as it has done for all eternity, continued to march on. Months passed for the captive Ronins, and it was already after Kento's sixteenth birthday. Winter was fast approaching, and even the Dynasty was beginning to get colder- for a realm of evil and darkness, one would think it would be a scorching hell or an icy wasteland. On the contrary, its climate wasn't much different from that of the Mortal Realm aside from a significant difference in the amount of life. Because of this, a winter season meant colder weather and all the trimmings to go with it. Thick gray slush fell from the sky instead of soft tufts of snow, and some of the few animals that remained in the Nether Realm went into hibernation. In Trulpa's stronghold, more and more warmer meals could be smelled in the hallways and spiced teas became choice drinks. Training halls in the castle were being used more and more often due to the undesirable conditions outside. Fires were made to be larger and warmer, making everyone feel more comfortable.

Sage, Kento, and Cye had been given a "day-off" of sorts from their training with magic. After they'd managed to calm down from the streak of horrible events, Trulpa had begun to demand much more of them with threats of dire consequences. The good news was she only used these consequences when they hadn't met her expectations. The bad news was they were finding it harder and harder to do so, and the "day-off" was all but a God-sent blessing. 

Of course at that point the day off was almost a necessity. Trulpa knew that even if they were Ronins, she'd cut them off from their armors AND they were mere mortal boys. They had their limits, and if she pushed them too far over these limits then they'd be of no use to her. That, in fact, was partially why they had such nice living accommodations- putting them in dark, grey cells wouldn't keep them well-rested and in peak condition to practice magic. 

The three were lounging around the main sitting room of their tiny apartment in sweaters and thick pants that somewhat resembled jeans, all sipping hot chocolate Cye had made. Sage was sitting sideways on a chair, balancing a saucer of cookies on his stomach. Kento was belly-down on the floor, his feet in the air and crossed at the ankles. Cye was stretched out on a sofa of sorts, half-asleep and ready to nod off.

Trulpa had given them the warmer clothing because the thin material of the normal Dynasty robes they were accustomed to was simply not enough, and she didn't want them to catch colds and have difficulty practicing with their magic. The materials were comfortable and made the cold climate that much more bearable. 

"This is nice," Cye said, a smile on his face. "Nothing to do but relax."

"Trulpa's probably just giving us a break so we can regain some energy," Sage said dryly, tossing back his head. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Face it, boys- our noses are going straight back to that damned grindstone starting tomorrow. And of course Trulpa's gonna be happy as a clam about it, too."

"Well, if she really wanted to rest us she'd give us at least two days off," said Kento. "And, in all honesty, I can kinda see another one tomorrow, and possibly Christmas, if we're REAL lucky, but that one's kinda fuzzy." The newly re-awakened seer had been practicing with his newly rediscovered skills, and was now at the point where he could make guesses at to what would happen over a period of a week, sometimes two. Still, he could only pinpoint minor events, something that was slightly discouraging. If he could only see something big. . .

"Maybe, but one way or another. . . she's going to go back to working us like dogs," Cye quipped. "We might as well enjoy this while it lasts, so don't dwell on what's going to happen." He leaned back. "Have you two heard anything about what's going on with the girls?" 

"Not a thing- even Trulpa's having trouble looking in on any training sessions they've been having, assuming they've been having them," Sage said. "The only thing I know is that they've apparently been hanging out since this summer, probably starting sometime during out battle with Talpa."

"She can't get through?" Kento asked, bewildered.

"Something's jamming her signals, I guess," said Sage. Placing the cookies down on a nearby end table, Sage sat up and moved to a more "correct" position. "She doesn't get it either! It isn't making any sense. The Ancient One may have some powers beyond the grave, but not nearly enough to interfere with Trulpa's spying. She's got Kayura and the Warlords, and Anubis is dead, so it can't be any of them. Question is, who is it?"

Cye bit his bottom lip. "You don't think its Ryo and Rowen, do you?"

"Highly doubtful. The Strata and Wildfire barriers are still intact, and I don't think they'd have that kind of power anyways. The Jewel of Life MIGHT be able to do something, but I doubt anyone we know outside of Anubis or the Ancient would've known how to work it," said Sage.

"The Senshi themselves?" Kento asked.

"Well, they're supposed to be spell-casters and it's not entirely impossible that there is a spell out there than they could pull-off, but last time I saw them they couldn't have possibly had enough power, even if they combined their strengths, to put up a wall like that," said Cye. "So then what the bloody devil is going on?"

"Could something bad have happened to them?" Sage asked. His expression darkened. "I mean, Trulpa's the big cheese and all, but there's gotta be other lords around here, like Sarenbo or Saberstryke. Could someone like one of them have intervened and done something?"

"I HIGHLY doubt that," said Kento. "SOMEONE would've found out if someone else was poking around the Mortal Realm- Trulpa's probably got spies in the homes of potential threats or challenges. If anyone even mentioned the Senshi they'd probably be fried. Sure, Sarenbo and the others weren't push-overs, but I don't think Trulpa would have a problem kicking their asses if she felt like it was necessary."

"So I guess we'll just have to wait and find out what's going on," said Sage.

"We'll probably find out when she finds out. My guess is that they're on our side, and depending on what it is, Trulpa will NOT be happy, and she'll probably be ranting and screaming about it. More than likely she's going to take it out on one of us or all of us, but since she won't kill us, we'll live to tell about it," said Kento. 

Sage snorted. "Yeah."

Cye stood up. "I'm going to head to the library and see if I can find anything- Trulpa might have something on different blocks like this, and if we're lucky she hasn't hoarded them all in her attempt to figure this bloody thing out," he said. He laughed. "The library's so huge that she probably wouldn't be able to find them all!"

"I've got a few books in my room," said Sage, offering his own assistance. "I'll look through those, then I'll head to the library to help you out. Kento, see if you can find something using your powers- if you see something unusual, tell us right away! Teleport to the library, because Cye's going to be there the whole time, and I might be there by them. Okay?"

The three shook on it and went their separate ways.

~

Sage groaned at the pile of books sitting on his desk. So far, he hadn't found anything he didn't already know. The books at his fingertips only said the Ancient had that kind of power. What frustrated Sage, however, was that none of the books said whether or not the Ancient was the ONLY one capable of that.

Not feeling too optimistic, Sage picked up the next volume. It was a ratty old volume with yellowed pages falling out and white velvety cover well-worn and soft. "The History of the Flitteree," he read. Sage raised an eyebrow. "What's that?" Curious, the Warrior of Light began to read.

"_Thousands and thousands of years ago, the Nether Realm was a world filled with peace and harmony. It was considered to be a sacred place where only the most divine of species were allowed to dwell. No evil could set foot apon the land of this world and survive- the world would simply not allow this to happen._

"_The Nether Realm was ruled by two humanoid species, the Flitteree and the Amazons. The two lived side by side in a mutual relationship. The Flitteree, who were characterized by their wings, would be able to reach heights the Amazons could not reach and used wild magic to complete tasks ranging from entertainment to healing wounds- illness, at the time, was foreign to this world. The Amazons, who were tall in stature and fair in complexion, in turn, had incredible strength and their own breed of wild magic that gave them incredible survival skills, including the unique ability to make it appear as if they had 'died' by stopping their heartbeat and breathing patterns. This peace was ensured by the marriage between a Flitteree and an Amazon every year. Sadly, this union rarely produced children, but those children born from these marriages were said to be the happiest people alive._

"_One thousand years before the arrival of the Twin Emperors- Emperor Talpa and Empress Trulpa- a dark force settled in the world. It was a round, golden orbe that shined with power. The Amazons were the first to discover the artifact and brought it back to the Amazon capital, but this was a grave mistake. The light from the orbe shone brightly in the city, poisoning the souls of the city's inhabitants. Terrified, those souls who had not been affected fled to another world in a panic as their kin began to change._

"_Tragically, the Flitteree did not realize anything was wrong until the annual wedding, when the first blood was intentionally shed on the ground of the Nether Realm. The Amazon groom and Flitteree bride had just finished saying their vows when the groom drew a sword- something that had never been needed in the realm before- and decapitated his young wife. It was the blood of the young woman that sent the rest of the Amazons on a blood-lust, attacking the other Flitteree in attendance. A civil war had broken out._

"_From this point on, the Nether Realm was forever tainted. Sickness and disease emerged for the first time and epidemics swept across both populations. Murder, something that had been unheard of in the realm, became a daily occurrence. The Amazons trained themselves to use their brute strength against the Flitteree to win the forced battles. Desperate, the Flitteree learned to use their magic as a defense._

"_The final taint, however, was the arrival of the Twin Emperors and a wave of demons and evil that destroyed the realm. With the help of these demons and their leaders, the Amazons won the war, forcing the Flitteree into exile, where they still hide today. Only one colony remains, but no Dynasty researcher has been able to find it as of this printing._"

Sage placed the book down. From the sounds of it, the Flitteree didn't like Talpa and Trulpa, or these Amazon creatures. The book also said that these people could use magic, which made Sage wonder if they had the power to put up the block Trulpa was currently dealing with. _Then are the Senshi getting help from a Flitteree?_ Sage wondered. Deciding he liked his discovery, Sage took the book with him as he teleported to the library.

~

"Stupid piece of junk!" Kento yelled, glaring at the round crystal orbe sitting on the pillow before him. This was his crystal ball, something that he had made out of curiosity using his powers over rocks and dirt. Part of his Hardrock powers gave him the ability to manipulate raw materials, including some metals, to create magical items. He, he could create nothing nearly as powerful as, say, the Staff of the Ancient or even his own armor, but useful trinkets that could have magic embedded into them. Kento had made the crystal ball one day as an aide to his powers. Three hours of hard work and one mother of a migraine later, the ball worked with his powers and made them much less erratic and much more controlled. 

But that particular day he was coming up with nothing.

"What good are these damn powers if I can't use 'em?" Kento snapped bitterly. He clenched his eyes shut, gritted his teeth, and made a tight fist. He punched the pad beneath him, trying to ventilate his anger safely. As useful as his powers were, they weren't doing him much good at the time. 

Kento sighed to himself and he stood and placed his hand on his forehead. In a way, he actually liked having his "abilities" back, even if they did creep him out as a kid. He felt more comfortable with himself, like he'd just gotten back something very precious to him that had been lost for a long time. Kento snorted at the thought- his powers had petrified him when he was little and now he was happy to have them back? He shook his head. "I must be going crazy."

As the last word escaped his lips, he suddenly felt very strange and lightheaded. The room began to swirl around him, causing Kento to stumble backwards onto his bed, where he laid staring at the ceiling. Hardrock's eyes widened as the sensation continued and thousands of colors bean to flash in his eyes. "Wha. . . what's going on!?" he demanded.

FLASH!

Kento could see a figure walking towards him. The figure was a tall, stocky man who looked like the result of some sick and twisted Frankenstein copycat. His skin was three different tones, all put together in patches of color. His hair was a greasy, slimey mixture of blonde, blue-grey, and auburn with sharp eyes of violent, blue, and sea green staring at him menacingly. The figure wore a tight black body suit and silver belt buckled with a symbol Kento recognized as a skull pattern Trulpa favored. In his hand was a sword. . . a sword he DIDN'T ever want to see again.

Daala's sword.

All around him, Kento could hear the sound of Trulpa's cackling laughter as the monster proceeded, his aura consisting of dark, dreary feelings and a malicious intent. This creature, whatever it was, was created to destroy, kill, and devastate the enemy. It would take no prisoners and not let anyone get away with their life if it crossed paths with them. 

This was a monster of perfection. 

FLASH!

Kento gasped to find that the room had stopped moving, he no longer felt light headed, and if it weren't for the fact it was ingrained in his head he would've sworn nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Startled, confused, and completely frightened out of his last wits, Kento quickly teleported himself to the library to find Sage and Cye. 

Whatever that THING was, it didn't look friendly.

But why did it feel so familiar?

~

Cye leafed through the book with little interest, growing weary and tired from a solid two hours of study time. He'd been unable to find anything on the topic at hand and he was growing very bored with the library. He yawned, closing the book and resting his head on the table. "Bloody hell, why does this have to be so hard?" he muttered to himself. "Can't we just find the damn information and get on with it?"

"WHAT!?"

Cye was jolted to full alertness at the sound of the scream. The shriek had ripped through the library like greased lightning and startled some birds outside the window. Cye stared out the window as the crows flew away in a tizzy, then got to his feet to investigate the scream. Not wanting to miss a single word, Cye hurried towards the sound of the scream.

The "scream" belonged to Trulpa, and from the sounds of it she'd just learned some bad news (well. . . bad news for her, at least). It was possible she'd found out what was blocking her, which would give Cye and his friends a heads-up as to what was going on. Information was something they desperately needed, and every little bit helped out.

Trulpa was near a large double-door entry to the library, where she was ready to rip a new door for Anubra. The Warlady was standing tall and cold, apparently unmoved by her mistress' sudden outburst of screaming. The woman cleared her throat, and held up the parchment she'd been holding to repeat what she said. "I don't understand this anymore than you do, Trulpa, as I just explained."

"But WHY HIM!? ANYBODY BUT HIM!" Trulpa wailed. 

"I realize this is very serious, my Empress! We don't know what he's teaching the little Ronin Senshi brats but whatever it is could be very valuable! That's why we can't get through and you know it!" Anubra said. "That man is very intelligent and knows EXACTLY how you like to operate, so he's doing everything in his power to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Well, you'd better just make sure that the traitorous scum doesn't find out we have his precious little Ronin Warriors here," said Trulpa. She turned her nose up. "I could use them to my advantage, and I do have one in mind if I were to use that kind of a strategy."

_Who is she talking about? And. . . which of us would she use?_ Cye wondered. He was hiding behind a bookshelf within earshot of the two Dynasty women. Evidently the person assisting the Senshi was very bad news for Trulpa. Hopefully this was good news for the three of them.

"Why the hell would he give a damn about any one in particular?" asked Anubra. "I wasn't involved, but I do know this: Anubis never got the chance to get to know Sage, Cye, OR Kento after he left Talpa's services. If we had the other two, the woman, or the little boy then we might've had something but to him the three we have probably don't mean that much."

Cye nearly choked on a breath. _ANUBIS!?_

Trulpa seemed to calm down some and she gave Anubra a light chuckle. "Oh Anubra, I'm afraid I can't tell you that. I'm going to keep this tidbit to myself for a little while- I can't risk this information leaking at the wrong time. Though I trust all of you, this is one mistake I can't afford any of you to make. Now that Anubis is alive and well again, at any rate."

_This isn't making any sense. . . how can Anubis be alive?_ This was something that puzzled Cye quite a bit. Shortly after the war against Talpa, Kayura had returned long enough to ask the Ronin Warriors, Mia, and Yuli if they would like to attend Anubis' burial. When they arrived in the Nether Realm a few hours later, they all saw his lifeless body. Cye remembered feeling sick to his stomach as he watched the body, covered by a white cloth, as it was lowered into the ground. Something about the burial made him very upset, but he couldn't understand what it was- he'd hardly known Anubis and half of the time he'd known the man they'd been enemies. Somehow, he felt like a part of him was in that grave with the Warlord.

At first he thought it was the armors affecting him. After all, Anubis had been a bearer of one of the nine armors, but no one else- not even the other Warlords or even Lady Kayura!- seemed to be affected in that way. Mia was a complete basket case, but Yuli had voiced a suspicion that she had some very strong feelings for Anubis. Maybe it was just how soft Cye was. Out of all the other Ronins he had been the most gentle and innocent prior to gaining his armor, so perhaps it was his lack of experience with the darker aspects of life. 

_But why does it feel like more?_

"What kind of mistake, Trulpa?" asked Anubra.

"A HORRIBLE mistake," she said. "Let's leave it as that." Trulpa smirked. "I don't know WHY he's alive and well, but now that we know what's been disrupting my methods, we can begin to break down his shields so we can plan our assault on the Senshi. Nice try, traitor, but you'll have to settle for the door prize this time around." With that, the two women teleported out of the room.

The sound of someone appearing in the room twice over told Cye that his friends had arrived. He looked at the two with a happy, yet melancholy look on his face. That soon turned to confusion when he saw the mixed expressions on his friend's faces. Kento looked flustered and anxious while Sage was clutching a book with a death grip and a wild grin on his face.

"Daala's sword. . . oh God it had Daala's sword. . ."

"We have friends in this realm! We have allies!"

"Geez, I've never seen a monster like that. . ."

"They're in hiding somewhere but we can find them and-"

"I know who's been blocking Trulpa!!!"

Sage and Kento stopped their chattering as Cye made his announcement. Sage cleared his throat. "I. . . supposed we should take turns discussing this issue, should we not?" Kento and Cye exchanged looks, nodded at each other, and then nodded at Sage. "Excellent. Rendezvous in the room in ten seconds."

And off they went.

~

It was late (or rather. . . early. . .) when I wrote the last few paragraphs, so Dixxy was half-way to la-la land. 

I edited chapter seven to reflect Sam's new attitude (during Cye's brief musing about the Senshi). For those who haven't been reading RSL, Sam's character has become a horse of a completely different color. As it is the suicide chapter already had some edits in it, and now seven as some small ones as well.

Yes, Kento saw Kaze. However, I'm choosing what Kento sees very carefully. Everything he's seen he can't stop because he doesn't know enough about them. He has no clue what the hell Kaze is (and like he'd be able to prevent his creation even if he knew?) and the blue demon that chased him has a human guise that he doesn't know about as well. I need to map out exactly what Kento (and Keisha for that matter) are capable of, because they each have some shared powers, but also some very different powers. They both have some basic powers (sensing what other people are thinking, minor sensing as to what is to come), but each of them has an area they're much stronger in. Problem is, I feel like Kento needs a little more to his powers than what he has. While seeing what the enemy is gonna do is pretty cool, smashing them into a wall without lifting a finger is A LOT cooler. 

Anyone recall me thinking about doing an AU of this series without Senshi armors? Well, I think I'm gonna do it. It'll be called "The Age of Myths" instead and will have some similar plot lines, but A LOT is going to get changed. Good guys are now bad guys, maybe some bad guys are good guys, and relationships change drastically. Characters like the Senshi, Sue Lee, and others will still be involved but their roles will change and the Senshi won't have armors. Keep an eye out for that.

Also, once I get _Dragonia_ and maybe another story focusing on Ria and Rona done, **I have the story you've all been waiting for on the drawing table**.

Finally, as I mentioned **in my response to Ileana Dubaer's review**, there are some major plot chances on the way.

Harry: Well. . . you should've known that already. How long have you been reading my stories ^_~? Harry, there's no challenge in pushing your buttons. Ever. And I'll keep that in mind. Don't worry- there should be plenty of stuff with the Senshi coming. 

Jess: Well, Ryo and Rowen don't really come into play in the story. This is part of a very large series I'm writing called _The Age of Legends_, in which one of the basic plot lines is that the boys get separated into two smaller groups for a long period of time. The other deals with the actual title of the series, since each Ronin has an "extra" power of some sort. Kento being able to see into the future (as well as the past) is his "role" in the Age of Legends. Ryo and Rowen get the spotlight in the story _Dragonia_, which I want to make long to make-up for their lack of screen time thus far, possibly even go far as to make it a few books long. I'm also thinking about doing an AU version of this series in which only the original nine armors exist- the Senshi would still show up, but their roles would be changed, reversed, ect. and none of them would be Ronins. Powers? Maybe.

Marlene: Ha, mine's in July. But isn't being mean to characters the whole foundation of writing? As always, thanks!

Firestorm: Too many people portray him as a stubborn pig head. I don't. Mmm, Cye needed a not-crippled moment. Don't worry, Kento does. Yeah, that'll have to happen. For sure.

Dragon's Venom: Thanks!

Sakura123: Who said Kento was calm? The first paragraph is confusing, though I can kinda see where it came from. Kento wasn't mocking her- he was upset and thought she was winning. Ryo and Rowen are back in Japan. Trulpa hasn't done a thing to them. Except made them upset by taking the other three. Wow. . . that's a lot of Xena. Hmm, twasn't the effect I wanted to have, but that works. Sorry. Do not worry- you will not get eaten by little demon thingies. They shouldn't exist, and if they do then hopefully they'll eat Osama bin Laden or Saddam. 

Crystal Cat-Chan: I know! Mmm, my contract says nothing about therapy bills, and if they do try anything I'll hire Johnny Cochran. Thus far, I have no plans to kill off any of the Ronin Warriors, BUT that doesn't mean it can't happen. I said "thus far". I'm a ways away of finishing this series and maybe I'll find a place where a character death is appropriate. It depends on how the series goes. Yeah, the egg thing was funny- something had to break the tension. Sheila, even though she is horrible, kicks ass as a character. As a character, not as a person. Ooo, you got a Grams in your family? I don't really have "issues" with Ryo and Rowen- I just have trouble writing them and coming up with ideas for them. Luckily most of my "new" ideas for this series involve them heavily, but I can't get past the first phases of Dragonia. Don't worry about it- you're a loyal reviewer and I don't care if ya miss a chapter or two. And remember, you have a LIFE. I hope. But certainly you must have other concerns.

Kaci: Thanks! I will!

Bunch-O-Nuts: Well, the thing about this story is that a lot of the plot revelations have already been revealed depending on what you have or have not read already. A lot of my readers stepped into this knowing a lot of (but not most of) what was going to happen. Technically, this is a 2.0 version of the story, and it's the first in a monstrous series I'm writing called _The Age of Legends_. As far as Ryo and Rowen go, they're kinda left out for now, but once I get _Dragonia_ rolling they'll get bigger parts. Kento's powers do develop, but I'm still working out the pace of it. And here's the next chappy!

Ileana Dubaer: Just as some useless trivia, I had to copy-and-paste your name into the document because I knew there was no way in HELL I was gonna spell that ~.^ Mmm, you're right- the whole "Child of Destiny" thing does have a lot of potential. Currently, I'm tweaking with the plots surrounding Dragonia, Sam's family (yes, you heard me- there's more to that situation than meets the eyes even if you HAVE read _The Last Amazons_) as well as a major plot change in _RSL_ that WILL require some major plot revisions. Some of you may hate me but quite frankly I find it kinda necessary, and after it happens I promise I will explain myself. Ooo, Sage and Kento? Well, it's entirely likely that even if they don't flat-out find out what Cye is until later, it's very likely Kento gets some hints. Recall that he's a seer, so he may see visions or have dreams here and there about it, some of which he could voice to Anubis assuming he still meets up with him and the Senshi before the other two. 

Rao of Fire and Ice: Yup!

~Dixxy


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Thirteen: Dream a Little Dream

Once the boys were back in their apartment, all eyes (except for his own) were turned on Cye. Even though Sage and Kento both thought their discoveries were worthwhile, Cye HAD blurted out he knew what was going on as far as what their original intention was. "So? Who's helping the Ronin Senshi?" Kento asked.

"You're not going to believe this. . . but it's Anubis," said Cye.

"Aaeeep?" was the sound that emitted from the back of Kento's throat.

"Da huh?" was the extend of Sage's wisdom at that moment. 

Cye wasn't impressed with his friend's reaction, but he continued on. "Trulpa and Anubra were in the library before you two came in- apparently Anubis somehow came back from the dead and is now involved with the Senshi. He's protecting them, probably so they can train without Trulpa seeing what they're up to. They aren't sure how, either, but do you realize what this means?"  
Kento paled. "ZOMBIE!!!"

Sage shook his head. "I. . . don't think he's a zombie," he said. Timidly, the blonde turned to Cye. "I. . . I am right, aren't I? Anubis is. . . Anubis, right? Not some rotting corpse with yellowed teeth and blue, leathery skin and bugs and rotting flesh and- DAAA!!! I SHOULD'VE NEVER LET MY OLDER SISTER TELL ME _Night of the Living Dead_ WAS LIKE THE MICHAEL JACKSON 'Thriller' VIDEO!"

_Oookay. . . evidently, my two best friends both suffer from whatever 'phobia' it is that covers zombies and the un-dead. . ._ Cye thought, giving them both exasperated looks. "No, I doubt he's a zombie. Trulpa said 'alive and well', and besides- what makes you think those girls would trust a ruddy zombie, especially anything like the one Sage described? They may be Ronin Senshi, but I don't think ANYONE would trust something like THAT!"

"Unless it's dancing with a bunch of other zombies and a guy in a red jacket-"

"SAGE!" Kento snapped. "This is NO TIME to be discussing dancing zombies and The Incredible Mr. Plastic! We've just learned that Anubis is back from the freaking DEAD and he's helping the Ronin Senshi with. . . eh. . . something important!!! What that is we don't know but we need to find out!!!"

"Probably just training operations," said Cye. He shrugged and sighed. "If he's teaching them strategic tactics, he probably doesn't want Trulpa to know what they are. If she knows their strategies then they aren't any good, AND, if he's smart, he doesn't want Trulpa to know he's even alive. Think about what would happen if Trulpa catches him. He'll be worse off than us."

"Anubis is quite possibly the biggest traitor in the history of the Dynasty," said Sage. By then he and Kento were calming down to a point where they could use some logical reasoning. "I doubt becoming the student of the Ancient One is considered 'good practice' around here. If anyone were to find out he was alive. . . they'd probably go to extremes to kill him." He gulped. "Again."

"Sage's right," said Kento. "Not only did he betray Talpa to bow down to the Ancient One, he did other stuff. He helped Ryo against the first final battle against Talpa, helped Ryo and Rowen for the Inferno while we were in Talpa's dungeon, got them to the Nether World, found the Jewel of Life, and sacrificed his life for Lady Kayura's freedom. They're going to do something awful to him if he ever gets captured."

Cye shuddered. _That feeling again. . ._

"So. . . at least if we go bug the Ronin Senshi, Anubis will know who we are," said Kento. "If he's the one blocking Trulpa from finding them, he's probably a familiar face to them. We are not, and we can't just show up at their doorstep and say 'Hi Ronin Babes, we're your Partners in Arms- can we crash with you guys?'. Since Anubis knows us that makes things easier."

"But he was DEAD," said Sage. "How do you greet a dead person?"

"'So, Anubis, what's it like to die?'" Kento joked.

"Can. . . can we not talk about that?" Cye requested.

"What? It's a thing of the past, and now that he's alive. . ." Kento jested.

"Please. It. . . bothers me."

"Drop it, Kento," said Sage. 

"Fine. But I still got one question," said Kento. "Let's go with my whole 'Anubis recognizing us' thing. Now I haven't seen anything about it, but we have a few problems. One, what if Anubis doesn't remember us?" Cye and Sage looked to their friend for further explanation. "I know Cye doesn't like talking about it, but he was DEAD. Who's to say whatever brought him back didn't screw with his brains?"

"Then how's he helping the Senshi?" Sage asked, sounding skeptical.

"Just because he doesn't remember his past life doesn't mean he doesn't know what to do. It could be like that Arnold movie 'Total Recall'. He didn't REMEMBER his real history, but he did have a longing to go to Mars, which was a focal point of the movie and his life. Anubis might not remember much, but he might remember enough to know Trulpa is bad, the Senshi need his help, and he's the best person for the job," said Kento. He cleared his throat. "My other point is less drastic and would assume Anubis' memories are intact. Let's say he hasn't exactly told the Senshi about his previous occupation. That could put him in a really sticky situation with the Senshi and might get them mad. If they'll too busy being pissed off at him then that might affect how a battle might play out."

Cye shook his head. "Poor Anubis. . . we're thinking off all sorts of awful things that might happen to him. . ." The Warrior of Water look at Kento. "I think we've gotten out as much as we're going to get from my discovery- how about yours, Kento? You said you saw SOMETHING."

"All right. I saw some sort of a freaky monster," Kento said. "It was like Frankenstein on crack or something- it was all patched up and sewn together- really freaky looking. It was carrying Daala's sword, and all I could sense about it was pure and absolute perfection."

"Pure?" asked Cye, raising an eyebrow. "I don't understand."

"Isn't that the sword that was made from. . . us?" Sage asked, his eyes widening.

"Things can be pure evil, can't they?" he said to Cye. Kento nodded at Sage. "Yes. I know it was THAT sword, and THAT scares me. That sword. . . it's powered by US. The sword doesn't WORK without us, and that THING had it in its hands. That means if Trulpa uses it, she has to involve us in it somewhere. And if my vision is right- and I'm sorry to say so but I think it is- that CREATURE I saw is also going to be involved."

"Oh great, what are we going to do now?" asked Cye.

"Well, what can we do?" asked Sage. 

"Try to stop it," said Kento. He sighed. "Once, when I was a kid, I saw my uncle's car in a big car wreck a few blocks from where we lived. He was over at our house and when he was about to leave, I begged him to stay. He got really mad at me and he finally left, but the ten minutes I was able to stall him for saved his life- had he gotten to that intersection ten minutes earlier. . ."

Cye frowned. "Yeah, but you had a good idea as to how your uncle's car would get into the accident, even as a child. What can we do about a monster like that if we don't know anything about it? We could warn the Senshi, I suppose, but what if Trulpa unleashes it during the first battle?"

"But then we'd be interfering?" said Sage.

"Does that apply?" asked Kento.

Sage nodded. "The Warlords can't so much as a disturb a hair on their heads."

". . . Kayura?" Cye asked.

Halo shook his head. "No, but good thought. That was probably an idea of hers until Anubis came back. Chances are he's figured out something is up if he has the Staff and she doesn't. Kayura going into battle would be exactly what he needs. That would tip Anubis off that something's fishy and he'd suspect that Trulpa had her fingers in this mess," said Sage. "Remember, Kayura was with the Warlords. If he knows Trulpa was involved with Kayura's disappearance, he'll guess something happened to the Warlords, too."

"Two more questions," said Cye. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "How can Anubis help those girls if he's an armor bearer. . . and how the hell did he come back to life the first place? I'm happy he's alive and all but I don't understand it! No matter how powerful that Staff is it can't resurrect the dead! Right?" 

"Mmm. . . Anubis isn't an armor bearer right now- that Osiris guy has his armor, so that little technicality is probably good enough for the Law of Dependency," said Kento. "Or Anubis found some loophole in the fine print- my dad does that all the time whenever he signs contracts. Heh, he's pissed off a few lawyers over that- never mind. Now, as far as Anubis coming back to life. . . well- I suppose if you- no- maybe if. . . ah hell, I don't have a damn clue!" said Kento, punching a pillow.

"Perfect. Kento's discovery has raised more questions than answers," said Sage. He sighed. "Mine probably isn't much better. In fact. . . never mind." The blonde dropped his book into his lap and used it as a surface to rest his elbows on. "Heh, since we know about Anubis that kills any theories I had."

"Well, we don't know that," said Cye.

"It's about Nether Realm races," said Sage. He sighed and drummed his fingers on the book he'd found. "I thought that one of the last 'good' races was helping them or something- that's what it was talking about in this book. There were two people in the Nether Realm before the demons came- the Amazons and the Flitteree."

Kento frowned. "They both. . . died out," he said. "I saw something on them a few weeks ago. Trulpa found the Flitteree's last colony and destroyed them all, and Talpa waged war against the Amazons several decades ago. Aside from the Amazons who ran away over a millennium ago, it doesn't look like either of those races has survived, and the runaway Amazons probably intermixed with whatever race was living in the world they went to."

Sage lowered his eyes, feeling a pit forming in his stomach. "Genocide."

"They. . . they killed off two species?" Cye asked, bewildered by the news.

"Well, the Amazons were kinda, oh, EVIL towards the end, but yes- they're all gone," said Kento. "Sorry I didn't say anything, but of those both catastrophes happened so long ago that I didn't think it would matter. I'm sorry, Sage- your idea was good, but that book is probably old."

"Yeah. . . you're probably right," Sage said, feeling disheartened. He sat up. "Well. . . did we really accomplish anything at all? Sure we know Anubis is alive and we need to be aware of Daala's sword and that monsters, but. . . I still feel like we're at a dead end." Kento and Cye nodded in grim agreement. "It's late. . . we should probably go to bed."

~

That night, Sage was restless.

_Genocide_. There were something things that Sage was sickened by, afraid of, and angered by. For some reason, the act of destroying an entire people always felt different. It just disturbed him, and the idea was something he liked to avoid. Whenever he heard the word or an interpretation of its meaning, he felt sick inside.

None of this happened until he happened to find his parents watching _Schindler's List_ one evening. He had left his room to use the bathroom when he saw the images of the Holocaust on the television screen. Deeply upset by what he saw, he started to cry and his mother- an American- had explained to him what had happened during World War II. How Hitler had people he didn't like- Jewish people in particular and most notably- systematically killed in concentration camps.

Since then Sage was mortified by the concept, as anyone in their right mind should be. Sure he was all for destroying demons and Tin Cans, but they were different- they would kill him if he didn't kill them first, right? And they were evil. They lived (or rather. . . un-lived?) to kill. But thousands of innocent people dying at the hands of madman scared him.

Sage couldn't help but sympathize with the people. "I have nothing to do with them, yet I feel for them," he said. He looked down at book he'd found again and rubbed the soft, leather cover. Through a bit of sneaking, Sage had found himself on a balcony overlooking the barren wasteland that was the Dynasty, wondering if he could spot the ruins of the last Flitteree city somewhere in the distance. Even after failing to do so (or at least guessing he has failed), he couldn't remove himself from the spot. He closed his eyes and felt wet, salt tears begin to poor down his face. "It. . . it's not fair!" Sage let the book fall to the floor as he cried himself to sleep.

~

_"Kowamini konnoi!!! Slinoo konnoi!!!"_

Sage suddenly found himself walking down the streets of an odd looking city. All of the houses and buildings were constructed from multicolored rocks forming odd shapes- in fact, he only knew they were building because they had windows and doors that people dressed in odd clothing were looking through, walking in and out of, and opening and shutting. All wore clothing made from a smooth, silky material decorated with brightly dyed feathers and beads. A few had brightly colored wings emerging from their backs that moved softly as they walked, and Sage wondered if they were real or just incredible fakes. 

Sage looked down and saw he was wearing the same clothing as the other people in the strange town- a pair of boots made from a leathery material, tight pants, a sleeveless tunic, and small feathers hanging from the leather-like belt that hung loosely around his waist. Feeling his hair, he noted the presence of feathers and beads strung about in his wild blonde mane. 

Loosely hugging himself, Sage began to walk through the town. People greeted him warmly in the foreign tongue, but he could only smile back. He didn't understand what any of them were saying, but he knew enough to know they were friendly. A few girls sitting by a water fountain made of rubies and emeralds giggled and waved at him. Sage blushed furiously, but found that they weren't quite as shallow or empty-headed as his usual fan clubs. He gave them his best grin and a flip of his hair. They squealed with delight and clapped giddily.

As he continued his stroll, Sage experienced many different things. He saw more elegant buildings that the people were running in and out of, each seemingly more amazing than the next. He smelled something wonderful coming from a stand that was selling a strange food- the vendor gave Sage and free sample, and he loved it. It was an oddly elegant taste that he could only describe as something similar to a caramel-like chicken that melted in his mouth like nothing he'd ever experienced before. He heard the sounds of music as people sang in the strange language and small children danced around the group of entertainers- Sage stopped briefly to watch. 

But the most amazing thing he saw were the wings. Oh, how wonderful they were! There wasn't just one kind, either. Some were made of feathers like traditional angels like the ones he'd grown up hearing stories about from the American side of his family (despite the fact her husband was a strict Shinto Buddhist, Mrs. Date was Christian). Others had soft, gossamer type wings that resembled different kinds of insects like butterflies or dragonflies. Then there were wings that looked as if they were made from the five elements themselves- bursts of fire, waves of water, tufts of clouds, and even crystallized wings could be seen. 

"I thought. . . you should see what we were like. . . Kilon."

Sage spun on his heels to see a middle aged man standing behind him. He had sharp, blue eyes, platinum blonde hair that reached his shoulders and a neatly kept beard to match, and a tall, slender stature. He had a pair of green wings that seemed to be beams of light coming from the two yellow pieces of his back. The man had a strange look of happiness and sadness on his face. "I'm sorry you had to experience it like this."

"Wait! You can speak like me?" Sage asked. The man turned and began to walk away. Sage chased after him, only half-noticing that this world had suddenly stopped around him as everyone was frozen in time. Finding himself unable to catch up to the man, he fell to his knees. "Who are you?! Why are you here, and who are these people? Why am I here? Sir, please tell me what has happened!"

"Kilon. . . I am sorry. . ."

~

"HALO!"

Sage suddenly found himself lying on the floor by a Dynasty balcony, right where he'd nodded off the previous night. Almost reluctantly, Sage removed himself from his dream. Someone had found him, and now he was in trouble. Pulling himself into a near sitting position, he saw Trulpa' looming form over him. Obviously the demon woman was upset at his latest sleeping arrangements. _Damn it! Now I'm going to get it for sure!_

Taking his verbal beating with as much dignity as possible, Sage let Trulpa had her screaming fit before slapping him a few times, then dismissing him back to the apartment. Thinking about the mild reprimanding he would get from his friends, Sage teleported to his bedroom, hoping for a few minutes peace to think to himself.

Sage felt even more homesick than before.

But he wasn't longing for the Date family dojo, or even Mia's mansion.

But rather. . . something else. . .

~

I wrote a lot of this early in the morning, too. And I love Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. Oh, and I came up with "The Incredible Mr. Plastic" out of nowhere. I love that line XD.

The language spoken in Sage's dream was completely made up. If it resembles a real language is was coincidence. I just made up some nonsense words. 

This version of _Consequences of Capture_ is already close to TWICE as long as the original version in terms of page length. Considering this is only the tail end of chapter 13, this is gonna be a LOT longer than the original.

Harry: Hee, pushing buttons. This story needed to be darker. It just NEEDED to be.

Firestorm: Honestly? I was probably to lazy to have Cye caught, so instead Sage gets busted for sleeping in the hallway. 

Sakura123: 1.) Understood. 2.) Mmm, no, that's my story all right. I mean, he could be a seer in another story but I dunno. 3.) Yeah, that's true, but Trulpa is in a league similar to Talpa's. Ryo needs the Inferno to kick but and he doesn't have the power to summon it right now. Now give Bush some credit- he's got some people running. For the Democratic nomination. 4.) I have a bad habit of bringing Anubis back to life, but I have a better explanation this time. 

Crystal Cat Chan: Yeah, I just did a LOT with that (I'm guessing most of you know what the dream was, right?). Mm, Kento does try to stop the MAJOR things- he won't flip out over Sage dropping a heavy lamp on his foot, but he will try and figure out how to prevent car accidents and such. Kento did that "magic TV" thing in the first edition of CoC, but I'm not sure I'll do that again. I may include a chapter featuring them for a change of pace, but I don't see much of a point in it- any chapter involving them would be really repetitive and wouldn't add much to the plot. Well, unless Rowen and Ryo had some minor premonitions to their roles in the Age of Legends (which I don't know if I could pull that off). Speaking of those two, I've decided I might be especially horrible to Rowen in the coming chapters of _Dragonia_.I'm still kinda debating whether or not Cye finds out- and how he finds out. I mean, maybe Anubis finds out first this time. We all know Trulpa would love to use Cye as a wriggling worm on a hook to try and catch his father (in my world). Hmm. . . I dunno. McDonald's will be hard to top. Honestly, I think that old people make up well over half of the hard-core racists and homophobic people in this country (and probably the world, too). Young people are more easily influenced and some kids are probably breaking away from what their parents believe. Simply put old people are set in their ways and it's their way or the highway. Granted some people can change their way of thinking but it's all a matter of perception. One thing you have to realize about Grams, though, is that she was involved with a Dynasty front organization. Who's to say that under any other circumstances she would've embraced Kento as her grandson-in-law before thoughts of marriage even popped into his head? It's very possible she was manipulated and brainwashed by the Dark Wing, which is probably a big factor in Grams' behavior (Keisha and Evan notice her odd behavior- even in their grief- when she first appears in _Dark Chocolate, White Diamonds_). 

Queen Strata: Why do you hate reviewing? There's nothing that says you have to review everything, and I know I sure don't! Sometimes its hard to comment on another author's work, and that's understandable. *grins* Who doesn't love a good Ronin story? Hmm? Five years? I've only been publishing online since about summer of 2000 and it's the end of 2003. So that's. . . two and a half years. No. . . three and a half, I can't count. You mean _End of Innocence_ (which, for version 2.0, is officially one of my worst writer's blocks EVER). Even today when I look back at that story, that story is probably one of my best works. Stylistically I've improved since I wrote that, and I'm sure there are tons of inaccuracies and what-not, but I've gotten a lot of response from it, including an e-mail from the friend of a rape victim. I'm glad you like my work, and sure you can be on my list. Oh yeah, that was funny. I'm sad it's not up anymore. I'll see if I can take a lot at it sometime.

Ileana: I agree! Sometimes the best characters in any film are the bad guys! There are movies out there that focus on the bad guy, like Psycho, The Shining, and Silence of the Lambs. Villains rock as characters but suck as people. I dunno, I think Sheila is the better villain. Trulpa isn't a good person either, but she's also a little shallow. Her intentions are basically to control the world and mess with the heads of the Ronins. She's a demon, that's how most demons think. Sheila has an out of control sex drive that causes her to go to any extremes to get what she wants. I also feel she's more controlling that Trulpa. Kento's vision? Since it wouldn't take too much digging to explain it, what Kento saw is a creature called Kaze. Kaze is a tri-mutantal, or, a mutant created from three beings (and you are correct in that Kaze is made from Sage, Kento, and Cye). In short, the three bodies are fused into one and a fourth being, usually a spirit, is embedded into the body to control the three fused together. Slowly, this process begins to break down their souls as they mix into one. The Senshi were able to break up Kaze before anything too bad happened in the original version of this series, though this is subject to change in the new version (including the mechanics of how Kaze works or even his creation). Anubis and his training with the Senshi? That's what _Ronin Senshi Legends_ is all about! 

Kar-chan: **_Who doesn't love a wasted Rowen?_**

~Dixxy


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Fourteen: Where Are You, Christmas?

Cye woke up that morning feeling cold, tired, and miserable. His body ached, his skin felt clammy and cold, and he wanted to curl up in bed and never get out. But, none the less, if he tried that Trulpa would probably barge in on him and order him out of bed so he could do more training with his magic and help whatever plan she was formulating. Sniffling, Cye laid back down to try and catch a few more minutes of rest.

With little interest, Cye looked over at the calender wall plaque. Usually he didn't bother to check the damn thing (the last time he had was around Kento's birthday, just so he could do something for his best friend), but something drew his eyes to it that made his heart ache and is eyes begin to tear.

__

Where are you Christmas?  
Why can't I find you?  
Why have you gone away?  


"December twenty-fifth," he said, sitting up. "It's Christmas."

Cye was amazed at this. Normally by this time of year he was just as excited as any other person who celebrated the holiday- Christmas meant being with friends and family, seeing snowfall, listening to Christmas carols and eating gingerbread cookies and candy canes. . . yet this Christmas felt empty and desolate.

"Cye?"

Cye was briefly aware of Sage's presence as he sat down on the bed next to him. He did acknowledge him, instead choosing to cry into his hands. He felt Sage move closer and put a hand on his shoulder. Cye batted it away, not wanting his company at that moment.

Sage chose his next words carefully, speaking in Cye's native tongue. No matter how good Torrent's Japanese was and how much it had been improving, whenever he got upset his Japanese turned to mumbled words and jumbled sounds that hardly made any sense. Though Kento was slowly picking up English, Sage was effectively bi-lingual and the best person at understanding an upset, crying Cye. "Cye, what's wrong?"

Somehow, Cye spat the words out. "Look at the bloody calendar and you tell me!"

  
_Where is the laughter,  
You used to bring me?  
Why can't I hear music play?_  


Sage stole a glance at the calendar, saw what day it was, and understood Cye's frustration. "Aw, Cye, c'mere," he said, pulling Cye into a hug. Cye continued to sob and Sage rubbed his back, hushing him and telling him it was all right. Somehow the words "Merry Christmas" seemed like a bad idea, as that might evoke a highly negative reaction from the hysterical Brit. "It'll be all-"

"NO IT WON'T!" Cye snapped, looking at Sage through red, wet eyes. "How do you think our families must feel?! This is the first Christmas they've spent without us since we were born! They're suffering, too! And what about Ryo and Rowen, hmm?! Christmas is supposed to be a happy time but now. . . I just want to be there to let them know I'm okay!"

Sage felt a pit form in his stomach. Cye had a point- sometimes it was hard to remember the three of them weren't the only ones suffering. They had loved ones back in the Mortal Realm. Even though Sage had his issues with his own family, he still cared about them and realized they were probably having a miserable Christmas without him. This was why Cye was upset. 

"We're going to go back to them someday," Sage said.

"No we aren't," he said. He sniffled. "Oh, yeah, sure, maybe we can go live with Anubis and the Senshi, but how can we ever go back? We'll be practically coming back from the dead! Nothing will ever be the same for us again! We'd get hounded by the media and get blasted for every 'T' we don't cross and every 'I' we forget to dot. We'll be sideshow freaks!"

_You're not going to get through to him,_ Sage thought to himself. He looked at Cye, then took a deep breath. "Do you need some time alone? Or do you want me to stay here, or even get Kento?" Cye looked at Sage with a sad, pathetic expression that was very childlike in its nature. 

"I. . . I need to be by myself, Sage, but thank you for offering."

"All right."

"I'm sorry I snapped."

"Don't give it a second thought." And with that, Sage disappeared, leaving Cye by himself once again. Not seeing much point in just lying in bed when he knew Trulpa would be hounding him soon, Cye got out of bed and started to get dressed. Trulpa wouldn't give them the day off today of all days- if anything she'd be worse!- and there was no point bringing on any trouble. On any day.

Never mind Christmas.

  
_My world is changing  
I'm rearranging  
Does that mean Christmas changes too?_  


Cye looked at himself in the mirror. For him Christmas didn't just mean the typical Christmas things most people thought out. Oh sure he enjoyed the holiday under normal circumstances- very much so, in fact- but there was always something else Cye thought about whenever Christmas came around. It wasn't quite a happy feeling, but it wasn't sad, either. But it was a feeling he got almost every year without failure.

Cye's birthday was less than a week away now. 

It was perhaps pure luck that all of the Ronins were born in the same calendar year. Though he was born at a fairly reasonable time in Bathe (his childhood hometown), he was born at precisely 11:59 in Japan on New Year's Eve. By Japanese time, they were all born in that same year, which amazed slightly amazed Cye. He wasn't sure if that happened with the Senshi as well, but it didn't seem to matter. 

Cye's feelings came from the fact that, like it or not, he was another year older. Though he always felt happy at the thought that this meant he might be treated with more respect from his elders and those younger than him, and maybe even gain a few more privileges, there was always the reminder that his childhood was slowly getting farther and farther away. Even considering how long his imprisonment had felt like, it still seemed as if it were only the other day that he was still playing with the neighborhood children as a small boy. Those were happier times for Cye, and sometimes he longed for them. He didn't need to worry about much outside of who was going to be captain when he and his friends played football ("soccer" to the Americans) or what kind of ice cream he should have when his mother took him and his sister out to the local parlor. But soon he had to start worrying about school and doing well so he could succeed in life well enough to get by. Then he needed to choose between his native land, his fold friends, and his family or the once in a lifetime chance to study abroad and see places he hadn't ever seen before. And then of course his armor brought its own set of things to worry about as well.

_I'm going to have a wrinkled forehead before I'm twenty,_ Cye thought sarcastically. Now fully dressed and ready for the day, Cye stepped out of his bedroom to see if he could find Kento and Sage. Despite the fact they were all probably feeling bitter and mellow, he still wanted to see them.

Much to his disappointment, the living room area was devoid of any signs of life. The two of them must have already retreated to their practicing, and Cye felt his heart sink further than it had been before. He gripped his hands into a tightly clenched fist, his frustration taking hold. Angry and unable to keep his normal cool, Cye teleported out of the apartment.

~  
_Where are you Christmas?  
Do you remember,  
The one you used to know?_  


Cye found himself in one of Trulpa's many libraries. Surrounded by books on all sides, the frustrated youth began to stomp up and down the isles, muttering bitter words and phrases to try and blow some steam. He was mad, but wasn't quite ready to show it to the whole world just yet. If he did THAT then he'd REALLY have something to complain about.

He was about to turn a corner, he heard a high pitched yelp come from the other side of the library, shortly followed by the ghastly screech of a gargoyle gremlin- one of the little beasts that had nearly taken two months earlier. Not sure what he was thinking by running in the direction of the demonic flesh eaters, Cye turned on his heels and began to run in the direction of the scream.

Sure there was a gargoyle gremlin. . . but there was something else there, too.

  
_I'm not the same one  
See what the time has done  
Is that why you have let me go?  
_

Cye skidded to halt to see that, indeed, a gargoyle gremlin had found something to prey on. Shuddering in a corner was a small dog-like creature with dark gray fur and a long, thin tail. A fresh wound was over one of its eyes, crimson blood dripping from the cut. The demonic little critter was tormenting the poor creature, licking its claws clean of the blood it had. The dog thing was whimpering, obviously in a great deal of pain. 

Cye was horrified. "STOP IT!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. This got the attention of both animals. The dog shuddered and try to back further into its corner, whimpering even louder and harder than before. The gargoyle gremlin, however, just looked him up and down, licking its fangs as if trying to decide if the dog was just an appetizer to the main course that was this human boy standing infront of him. 

"You're not eating him OR me!" Cye said. The gargoyle gremlin hissed at him and lunged. Cye was able to dodge the leap- unlike his last encounter with the creature, he could see what was going on, there was only ONE of the little buggers, and he knew what he was up against. Now it was just a matter of defeating the little thing.

Cye turned to face the gremlin and its landing spot, which now placed him between the dog and the demon thing. The gremlin made a growling, hissing sound and bared its fangs, now very upset that Cye had interrupted its meal. Cye, however, did not care how the little devil felt- after all, it would probably do him good to take his frustrations out on it. Watching the gremlin back up, he knew exactly what it was going to do.

The gremlin back to run towards him, then jumped and sailed through the air, straight for Cye's throat. Teeth bared, tongue flailing, and drool flying from the corners of its mouth, the gargoyle gremlin intended to kill Cye then and there with one fatal blow to the jugular. 

Cye had other plans. With one VERY carefully planned kick, he sent the gargoyle gremlin flying back in the other direction, where it unceremoniously crashed into the opposite bookcase. As it slid to the floor, several books fell with it. A particularly heavy volume landed smack on the top of its head, and the creature was rendered unconscious if not dead.

Smiling, Cye turned back to the dog and knelt down. He got a better look at the dog, and decided that maybe it WASN'T a dog. Or at least not the kind he was used to. Though everything else seemed normal, two things were noticeably different. One, its tail was very long and VERY flexible. Two. . . it didn't have any back legs. 

_What a strange little dog,_ Cye thought. Feeling sorry for the creature, Torrent came to a decision. "It's all right, boy," he said soothingly. "I'm not gonna hurt you." Gently, Cye held out his hand. The dog, still in pain, looked at his hand with fear and interest, looking up at the boy with terror. It shook, making a puddle on the floor of the library. Cye frowned. Poor little thing was terrified.

Being very careful about how he did it, Cye placed a gentle finger on the dog's forehead. Far too frightened to move, the dog didn't make an attempt to bite the digit or growl at him in protest. Instead, it looked at Cye with amazement, unsure what the bigger animal was going to do with him. "It's all right- I'm going to help you."

~  
_Christmas is here, everywhere  
oh,oh  
Christmas is here, if you care  
ohhh_  


"Hey!"

The dog creature yipped at Cye, a big red tongue hanging out of its mouth as it pushed itself into a "standing" position from where he sat in the cauldron that was now a bathtub. Cye was soaking wet from yet another tidal wave caused by the dog, and he wondered who was actually getting the bath- him or the dog.

__

If there is love in your heart and your mind  
You will feel like Christmas all the time

As Cye began to dry himself from the last drenching, he heard a knock at the door. "Hey Cye, buddy you in there? It sounds like there's a lot of water involved. . . you doing an experiment with the sink or something?" That was Kento, though Cye wouldn't have been very surprised if Sage was nearby as well.

"I found a dog," he said. "I'm giving him a bath."

"You found a what?" Kento opened the door and stepped in. Before long, Kento gave a short, loud yell that surprised the dog so badly it dove beneath the bubbles, not noticing its tail was protruding well above the surface. "Cye, what the hell kind of a dog is THAT!?"  
Cye frowned. "I'm not sure, but he was being attacked by a gargoyle gremlin," he said. Cye reached into the bath water and pulled the drenched dog out. A tight white bandage had been wrapped around his head, covering the injured eye while two other small bandages covered his ears, both of which had been slightly taken away. 

"Cy-EEE, you should have brought him to Say-GEE," Kento scolded. Cye's eyes widened- somehow, in his rush to get the dog cleaned and fixed up, he'd forgotten Sage was a skilled healer- a VERY skilled healer. Heck, Cye was certain he'd forget his own mother's name before he'd forget THAT area of Sage's expertise. Kento sighed. "C'mon, let's go bring Fido to Blondie so he can get fixed up."

Taking the soaked dog in his arms, Cye followed Kento out of the bathroom towards Sage's room.   
~

  
_I feel you Christmas  
I know I found you  
You never fade away   
_

"I can't believe you aren't scared of him, Cye," said Sage. Now that the puppy was fully healed, he was bouncing around Sage's room on his behind, investigating the different crevices of the area. Cye was only half paying attention to Sage, who wasn't clear on his position as to what the big question was.

Did the dog stay or go?

  
_The joy of Christmas  
Stays here inside us  
Fills each and every heart  
with love  
_

"I think we should keep him," Cye said. "I think he's just a baby- look at him! He's far too curious for an adult. Yeah an adult animal would be sniffing around, but he's just acting so immaturely." The puppy was depicting Cye's description perfectly as he yipped and howled, then began chasing his tail.

"Well. . . he is kinda cute for a chewed up little scruff," said Kento.

"Kento!" said Cye. "You'll hurt his feelings!" The puppy looked at Cye in shock, not used to him getting upset. Torrent saw this and groaned. "I'm sorry," he said in a much friendlier tone. He held out his hand for the dog to sniff, and the dog happily bounded over to lick it. "Hey! Cut that out, it tickles!"

"You know, if he's a baby, and we raise him, he'll be our friend," said Kento.

"If he's a baby then he isn't full grown- we don't know WHAT he is or how big he's going to get," said Sage. He frowned. "Besides, Trulpa will probably be furious if we keep him. And as he gets bigger it'll be harder and harder to keep him a secret from her if we do."

Cye paled at the thought. "No!"

"What do we do with him? We can't just release him- we can't get outside anywhere close to the ground," said Kento. He looked at Cye. "Looks like we have to keep him for now, but we need to figure out how to keep him from Madame Bitch. She'll probably kill him or worse!"

Sensing some sort of danger, the puppy jumped into Cye's lapped and curled up, shaking. Feeling sympathy for their new pet, Torrent reached down to gently stroke his head. The puppy seemed content with this, yawned, and began to sleep. All three Ronins managed a smile, and it seemed like maybe things were beginning to look better.

"Merry Christmas, boys. I think this little guy is our Christmas present."

  
_Where are you Christmas?  
Fill your heart with love_

~

I'd love to comment right now, but my modem is being an ass and I can't get onto the Internet. How fun is that?

*a couple of days later. . .*

Harry: I think he's innocent, and I wrote that chapter a LONG time ago. No, seriously, I do- I'm not as sure about the last one, but this one seems fishy to me and I think the word "extortion" is stamped all over this. Anubis kinda has shown up, just not directly. Kayura was brainwashed. She'll probably try to kill Anubis next time she sees him. 

Crystal Cat-chan: Er, Sage still doesn't really know what he saw yet. Well, as far as what I have planned for Rowen it isn't AS bad as some of the stuff that happened to the other Ronins. I mean, it still sucks, but there isn't any Dynasty involvement or brutal murdering involved. But it still sucks. Hey! Ryo has his share of trauma, too! Dude, he's an orphan who keeps loosing people he cares for. Well, true, but Cye and Anubis are gonna be on the same side. Well, if you saw a zombie would YOU run up and say "Hello, Mr. Zombie, can I take you home so we can play tea party?" or would you run and scream for your mommy? Yeah. There will be much tweaking with Kaze. 

Celesta SunStar: Man, my spell checker hates your name. It has the little red squiggle thing going on. Anyways, let's go on. It really is sad that Sage doesn't exactly know what's going on, but once he does he's gonna feel better about himself (Sage is under the mentality he was discovered the way he was because he was unwanted or "not good enough") and be royally pissed off at Trulpa. Life DOES suck. And if we all saw the world in the same way we'd be stuck in some communist _1984_ reality. Which would make life suck even more. 

Sakura123: Thanks for enjoying (I'm choosing not to comment on the Bush thing). 

This'll make ya'll happy- I've been writing up a storm. On this story. Still trying to get though everything else. 

~Dixxy


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Fifteen: Another Sad Birthday

As everyone does as they wake up, Cye opened his eyes.

And was greeted by the lolling red tongue of the furry creature perched on his chest.

"DASH!" he yelped from surprise. Dash yipped, licked Cye from chin to forehead as to leave a nasty cowlick, and jumped off to the bed to retreat back to his own pile of pillows in "his" corner of "their" room. Yawning and padding around the furnishings, Dash settled back down to sleep some more.

"Little bastard," Cye said, not being able to truly stay mad at the poor thing. After all, Dash WAS only a baby- at best just a month or two old. And besides, he was only giving Cye a "good morning" greeting- how could he possibly be upset with Dash over a silly little thing like that?

In the days that passed the boys had grown very attached to their newfound puppy, whom they had named "Dasher", or just "Dash" for short. Since Cye had found him on Christmas, they decided to give him a Christmas oriented name. After several suggestions including Eggnog, Black Ice, and Chimney Soot were all shot down, Cye noticed the dog could move very quickly if he wanted to. Linking this back to a certain Christmas carol, the boys decided to name him "Dasher" after the reindeer (his name was the first in the song despite the fact "Comet" would have also been suitable), but that had quickly been shorted to just plain "Dash". 

Also during that time Sage had dug into his small library of books to see if he could determine what Dash was. It didn't take long before they found an entry on Gruffs, a kind of Nether Realm wolf dog that traveled in packs ("Since he was alone, he was either separated from his herd or he was the sole survivor of some unknown tragedy", Kento had concluded). Using the average birth size listed in the book, Sage gave Dash an approximated age and took extra precaution when telling his friends what their pet's full grown size would be.

"The AVERAGE height for a male Gruff is six feet tall, but many can be seven or even EIGHT feet in height," said Sage. Kento and Cye whistled. "He's going to be as tall as I am and three times as heavy! Man, Cye, I sure hope you can cook enough for the three of us and him!"

"Oh, if I can cook for Kento I can surely-"

"HEY!"

More research had also told the boys that Dash could be a potential ally in a battle or an escape attempt once he was bigger. Gruffs had two incredible defense mechanisms, one of which they saw the beginnings of. The first defense, and perhaps most functional, was their tail. It contained many bones and muscles, giving it a good amount of flexibility and gripping power, making it useful as a limb. Over time, it would also develop a two-foot long blade that was just beginning to develop on the tip of Dash's own tail. The other defense was the ability to breathe fire.

"That almost makes sense- his stomach is loosing hair and it seems like he has scales underneath- is he partially reptilian, like a dragon?" Cye wondered one day while rubbing Dash's tummy. After the odd looks Sage and Kento gave him, Cye explained his reasoning. "In Europe, dragons are associated with being able to breathe fire. I forgot Japanese dragons were associated with water. Still, it would make some sense if the fur was there just to protect a still developing armor of scales, right fellows?"

Though Sage's research didn't provide much more information that would be useful to them, he did continue it. The puppy was becoming a huge distraction for the boys as they took turns taking care of him, cleaning up after him, and keeping him a secret from Trulpa. Luckily he was confined to the apartment, but that one little puppy could make one big mess with just one little couch cushion.

At any rate, he certainly made things slightly easier on the boys psychologically and emotionally. Dash was a happy, hyper little doggy who didn't have too many cares beyond what he was eating and where he was sleeping. Still, whenever he saw one of his masters look upset, hurt, or tired, he sympathized and cuddled up to them, trying to make them feel better. This was usually rewarded with a pet that they guessed Dash viewed as a "thank you for being there" gesture, which it was. Even though the puppy didn't understand what was going on around him, the boys got the impression that the Gruff understood it wasn't good.

However, that morning all Dash wanted was breakfast and a place to pee.

Cye got up, yawned, and dressed. "C'mon, Dash, let's get you to the bathroom."

Dash yipped happily at this information.

~

"Good morning, fellows!" Cye said as he and Dash entered the living room, where Sage and Kento were sitting around eating breakfast. Today, breakfast consisted of some sort of an oatmeal concoction, probably something the two had whipped up out of laziness and/or hunger on the part of Kento. Dash barked, bounced over to Sage, and placed his paws on the blonde's knees, looking for some of the porridge.

Sage pulled his bowl away. "No, this is MY breakfast." Dash whimpered and sulked down to the floor. He looked up at Sage with large, pitiful eyes as he begged for the food. Halo was about to say "no" again just as Dash pulled his trump card and began to gently head-butt his leg. Sighing with defeat, Sage took one last spoonful and placed the bowl on the ground for Dash to finish. Stepping over the dog, Sage went to prepare a second bowl for himself and called over his shoulder he'd make one for Cye, too.

"We need to teach him not to beg," Cye said as he took a seat.

"Mmm hmm," Kento agreed. He cocked his head to one side in thought, then quickly turned to face Cye with a smile on his face. "Hey, I almost forgot, buddy. It's New Year's Eye! December the thirty-first!" With that, Kento began to sing. "_Tra la-la-la-la la-la-la-la. Happy birthday, sweet sixteeeeeeeeeen!!!_"

Cye blushed. "Oh, um, thank you."

Sage emerged from the "kitchen" area with two bowls of the porridge. One of them had a spark ball floating above it. "Sorry, I couldn't find any candles or cake. Happy birthday, Cye!" he placed the bowl in front of his friend so he could take it, then went back to his own seat. Dash had since finished with the other bowl and was curled up at Cye's feet (Though Dash was fond of the other two, Cye was his undisputed favorite).

"Thank you, Sage," Cye said.

"What's wrong?" Kento asked. "I know you were bummed Christmas, but. . ."

"It's not that," Cye said. He shook his head. "It's just that. . . well, I guess Dash has cheered me up a bit. It's hard to be upset when he's jumping up and down with a ball in his mouth, you know?" Kento and Sage nodded in agreement, having been though that scenario a few times themselves. "I'm still sad and all, but Dash is just so happy. Makes you think it'll all be all right."

"Eh. . . close to enough 'the spirit'," said Kento. He sighed. "I gotta work on that chapter dealing with clays again- I'm not doing good in that department AT ALL. You'd think that after a childhood spend playing with my aunt's cookie dough and whatever fun dough stuff my folks bought this would be an EASY chapter- IT'S FREAKIN' HARD!!!" He sighed rubbing his temple. "By the way, Sage, I think Trulpa's going to be looking for holograms soon. I had a dream about her yelling at you about it and quite frankly I think they use the stick thing she was waving in taxidermy."

Sage paled. "I'm on it!" With that, he disappeared to his room.

"Anything I need to worry about?" Cye asked.

Kento shrugged. "Believe it or not. . . no. I'm seeing stuff Trulpa's going after me and Sage to do, but I haven't seen anything for you. Has she been bugging you about things, or are you just so far ahead that it doesn't even matter or something?" Kento sat down again to look for an answer.

"I'm not sure. I've been studying and all, but as of late Trulpa hasn't been doing much of anything," said Cye. He looked at Kento with concern as Dash jumped into his lap. "She's been so quiet around me that I'm afraid she's got something rather. . . nasty planned, you know? Quite frankly I'm a little scared."

Kento sighed. "Well, if she's planning something I haven't seen it. Sorry, buddy, I don't choose what I see, and I'm beginning to get the idea it's got a mind of it's own- it's either showing me meaningless events like Sage sneezing or stuff that's so vague I can't tell WHAT it is," he said. He stood up and began to walk. "It's not easy having these powers, Cye- as much as I kinda missed having them. . . it's still kinda scary sometimes."

Cye picked up Dash (now sleeping soundly) and walked towards Kento. "Don't worry- I'm sure there's a reason you have these powers, and I'm sure you'll learn to get a grip on them eventually. We'll figure it out soon." Kento turned his head over his shoulder, smiled, and disappeared into his room.

Following his friend's lead, Cye walked into his own room, planning on doing some studying and practicing, though he didn't see much point. With the exception of a few trickier potions (a kind of magic limited to Torrents, Venoms, and Wildfires) and fair amount of harder to pronounce incantations, Cye was finished with the book. Though they could all use the magic they were being forced to learn, Cye seemed to have a natural talent for it. Kento struggled for a long time when he was first learning a new spell and Sage's magic was just plain out of control, almost as if forces were acting against him. For Cye, everything seemed to go smoothly and rarely fouled up. In fact, he decided that he would've preferred this magic to his sure kill during the wars with Talpa had he been given that option at the time.

"WHAT is that MONGREL doing in your ROOM!?"

Suddenly, Cye's room went pitch black. When light appeared again, he was standing in the middle of Trulpa's throne room, the evil empress looking enraged as she stood before her throne. Cye looked down and saw the still sleeping Dash in his arms. Instinctively, he held the puppy closer, afraid of what Trulpa might do to their pet and only source of happiness as of late.

"Well??? How did it get in?" she demanded. 

"I. . . I don't know!" Cye said.

"I. . . HATE. . . GRUFFS!!!" she screeched. She glided across the floor at lighting speed to where Cye stood, the empress bending so close the her forehead touched Cye's forehead. Cye closed his eyes and decided he wanted to cry, realizing that Dash's life might be in danger. 

"Please. . . don't hurt him. . ." Cye begged. By now Dash was waking up and looking around. The poor dog took one look at Trulpa, yelped, and buried his head into Cye's armpit. "He's just a baby- he can't do anything to you! He couldn't even defend himself against a gargoyle gremlin!"

"Gruffs are the ONLY creatures left in the Nether World that I cannot taint! Mine nor my brother's magic couldn't touch them or those damned Flitteree!" Trulpa said, backing away as to allow herself more room to rant and rave. "They're HAPPY and PLAYFUL little BEASTS and I CAN'T STAND THEM!!!"

_Oh God, please don't let Trulpa take Dash away. . ._ Cye prayed, clenching his eyes shut. 

Trulpa observed Cye's action, noticing how close he and the puppy were. Being the demon empress she was, she cracked a grin as a plan formulated in the back of her head. After all, the littlest Ronin Warrior was unknowingly a legend in his own right, and perhaps that puppy of his would make a good accessory to a plan. Having control of either of the other little idiots was one thing. . . but to her, Cye was far more valuable than Kento and Sage combined. No one knew just how powerful the Child of Destiny was, even Trulpa herself, but she knew it was enough to make a reach for. Now it was just a matter of figuring out how to get that power. "You love your little puppy don't you, Cye?" she said lightly.

Cye looked up at Trulpa in confusion. "Yes. Yes, we do."

"All right then, Cye," she said. "I'll leave the puppy alone-"

Cye's expression brightened. "Do you. . . do you mean it!?" he said.

"-on one condition," she said. She snapped her fingers, and a circle of fire came between them. "There are things that I know about you that you don't even know about myself, so some of my bargaining tools are officially null and void. But I can force you to place your hand through this circle of fire."

Dash whimpered as he looked at the fire. Cye saw the dog, and held him tighter. "What is this fire?" he asked. The flames danced in his eyes like the demons of Hell, and Cye wondered if he'd be giving up his soul to Trulpa for Dash's sake. He gulped. "Please, tell me what this is."

"Control," she said. "By passing your hand through the fire, a bracelet shall appear on your wrist. This bracelet will ensure that I can bring you to me whenever I wish- be it across a realm or across a room. I'm very well aware that escape is entirely possible for the three of you- very difficult and highly unlikely, but in the off-color chance you three do find escape. . . you'll be brought right back here."

Cye's eyes widened. This would mean he'd be Trulpa's prisoner. . . forever. . .

"Before we go along with that part of the bargain, let's discuss the little puppy," said Trulpa. Cye looked down at Dash, who was now shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. "It's the little one you're doing this for, remember? How do you think he'd fare if we locked him in a small, tiny little cage with dirty water, no food, and his own waste products? But don't worry- we'd take him out once a day to take a little flesh, maybe some bone, off his decaying little body. I'm sure he'd get a lovely infection after a while- it would fester into something utterly gruesome, and he'd probably take a week of extreme suffering to die."

Cye paled. "NO! YOU CAN'T HURT HIM!" he cried. Though Cye had only had Dash for a day shy of a week, the puppy was almost like a child to him. Despite all the help and support Sage and Kento gave the dog, Cye was his primary caretaker and he loved the dog dearly. If something were to happen to Dash, he didn't know what he'd do with himself. Especially if he chose his own freedom instead. 

"Then give yourself to me," said Trulpa. "That bracelet's only flaw is that it must be willingly accepted. . . and of course I won't tell you what removes it, assuming there IS such a thing." She grinned. "So, how much do you love that little puppy of yours? Or do you value the next to non-existent chance of escape over the dog's life?"

Clenching his eyes shut as he shed tears, Cye thrust his hand through the fire. 

Trulpa stood in triumph. "HA! YOU FOOL!"

He gasped in amazement as the ring quickly clenched around his wrist, burning it to the point where he screamed and fell to his knees. Trulpa laughed wildly, insanely pleased by Cye's displeasure. Dash yipped and howled, displeased that his master would not release him from his grip so he could help the pain filled arm. His hand and wrist began to glow into a violent black and red fireball, images of skull demons laughing at him appearing inside. 

As instantly as the pain had started, it was over. Shaking from a number of emotions, Cye brought the hand to his face. It seemed fine, and he could move it on his own will. Wiggling his fingers a few times more to test this theory, his eyes moved to the bracelet. 

The bracelet consisted of wild flames and bleeding skulls made from a black and red metal that had been swirled together to create a ghastly looking piece of jewelry. The thing was practically skin tight, yet not so uncomfortable that it hindered his movement. His wrist was as flexible as ever, albeit a bit more ugly thanks to the thing wrapped around it.

"If I were you I'd avoid telling your little friends about it," said Trulpa. Cye looked up from his bracelet to where Trulpa sat. "After all, if one of them discovered the way to get it off then that would destroy the whole point of our deal. Do you understand, Cye? They are to NOT discover your bracelet. Your freedom is stripped from you forever, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. You are MINE." 

~

Whoo-hoo, it was kinda late AND I was sick when I wrote this!

Cye's bracelet REALLY sucks, but this goes to show how close he and Dash have gotten.

Sakura123: I still don't like Bush. But everyone is entitled to an opinion as long as they can act maturely when someone with a different viewpoint states theirs (i.e. argue it, but not get totally offended). Who, Dash? Nah! Dash was born that way, as are all Gruffs. He's perfectly content with his spongy butt and front legs.

Harry: I needed to put out a holiday story. And there you have it. But New Years Eve ain't so cool for Cye, now is it?

Bunch-o-nuts: Thanks, but don't sweat it! Just review when you can! Wah, sacrificing grades for me? I'm not sure if I'm honored or worried.

Firestorm: And here it is, fellow member of the "I-love-Cye-but-I-love-torturing-him-more" club! 

Crystal Cat-Chan: I don't think they have phones in the Dynasty, but nice try ^.~. Yes he did, though that was kinda the point. Could be for drama, could be for something else. I've been playing around with timelines and stuff lately and made all the Ronin Warriors be born in the same year, the Senshi the following year minus Sara, who was born the next year- both Rowen and Ryo are two full years older than she is! I like this entrance better, despite the fact the other most certainly ranks higher in comedy (what with Cye and Sara arguing and Sue Lee crying "BUTT MONSTER!!!"). Yeah. Anubis is going to have issues to work out once he finds out Cye is his son. Kaze should still be lots of fun to work with.

Dark Knight Gafgar: Gafgar is a funny word. You're welcome. 

Oh, and one more thing: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

~Dixxy


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Sixteen: The Truth

_The slight clacking sound was the only thing Sage could hear._

His dream city was now a ghost town.

Ever since his first encounter with the strange dream city, Sage found himself periodically visiting it whenever he went to sleep. This was something he had no control over, but he didn't mind it. This place was like a second home to him, and he felt safe here, even if it was just an illusion. The people were still as friendly as ever, and even though he could still not speak with anyone but the strange man who insisted on calling him "Kilon" and refused to answer any of his questions. 

But now things were dilapidated and deserted. Window panes were broken as shutters hung by a single hinge, ready to fall to the ground. Doors had been kicked down and in, and Sage could see wrecked tables and chairs inside. The ruby and emerald fountain- a place he'd been particularly fond of- had been reduced to rubble, and the stand with the caramel chicken sliced in half. The debris of a battlefield lay in the streets, ranging from shields to swords of all sizes, making Sage wonder if small children had taken up arms in the battle.

In the distance, he could hear a baby's cry.

Sage turned his head to see the bearded man limping down the street where he'd come from, carrying a bundle in his arms that he was sure had to be a small child. This time pivoting his body the whole way around, Halo began to move towards the man. This time, however, he didn't seem to notice Sage. He was just staring at the baby, appearing to sob bitterly.

As he stood watching, the man fell to his knees, and Sage became aware of a horrible wound on his side- he was bleeding profusely, and that alone would surely kill him. Eyes wide in horror, Halo began to run to where the man was kneeling. "No! Don't die!" he cried, already reaching for the man. "You can't die- HEY!" Before he could proceed further, Sage was stopped by an invisible wall. Even though his pounded and kicked at it, he could proceed no further. The barrier blocked him from reaching the man and the baby despite how much they needed his help.

As Sage continued his struggle to get around the obtrusive wall, he heard the familiar sound of metal rings clanging, and stared in wonderment as the Ancient slowly materialized into existence. Halo was taken aback by this- unless Anubis' hair had been affected by his still unclear resurrection, this was the real Ancient. Am I seeing a vision of the past?_ Sage wondered, lowering his hands to his sides as he continued to watch the exchange. _

The bearded man looked up at the Ancient One, his eyes tearing. "Friend. . . Ancient One. . ." he said. He was shaking uncontrollably, the baby still whimpering in his arms. "You. . . are too late. Trulpa. . . she has destroyed us. Destroyed everything. My Kilon and I are the only ones left."

"There was nothing I could have done," the Ancient One said. "My staff has powers, but they would not have been able to stop the massacre. If anything my presence would have caused more destruction, as this would have enraged the Warladies even more in their campaign. Even if I knew about this sooner, there was nothing I could have done."

"I. . . I understand. . ." he said.

Sage's jaw had dropped in shock. How could the Ancient say that!? The Ancient was so powerful! Surely he could have at least been able to help people escape, even if he didn't fight! And couldn't he have enlisted help from the armors or something!? Even White Blaze or Tiger Lily (this was the name of the Senshi's tiger, something Kento had discovered earlier that week) _could have done something!_

"There is. . . hope," the bearded man said. 

Th Ancient looked at the man and bent his hat down. "Your son."

"Yes, my youngest Kilon," he said. He smiled and laughed weakly before beginning to cough. The baby cried again, and the man tried to hush him. "Everyone I loved. . . my wife. . . my brother. . . they were killed. My eldest Kilons. . . all of them. . . died quickly. Lucia. . . she is gone. . . my Rhiva. But my little one. . .he was. . . unhurt."

The Ancient knelt down next to the man to look at the baby. The baby seemed to calm considerably with the Ancient One's presence. The Ancient was taken aback when he saw something and stared at the bearded man in curiosity. "Is this the hope you believe your son can bring?"

"My. . . my people. . . may die out. . . even if he survives. . ." said the bearded man. He handed the child to the Ancient One, and the child began to cry. "The passing. . . of time. . . will erase us. . . as each new generation begins. But my Kilon. . . my little one. . . I sense that. . . one of your armors. . . has chosen. . . him."

"Yes," the Ancient said. "I can sense the armor's aura within him." 

"Please. . . give my Kilon a chance. . ." he said. By this time his breathing was irregular, and he was lying on the ground, clutching the bleeding wound. "I want. . . I want him to find. . . happiness. A. . . a family. For my Kilon. My friend. . . this is my final request. . . give Sage a home."

~

Sage's eyes flew open as he felt a cold sweat drip down the sides of his face. He leaned forward from shock and surprise, very much dismayed to find that he wasn't exactly where he thought he was. And of all the places he could have been, this was perhaps one of the worst to be. "Oh no. . . oh my God. . . oh no!" he cried, spinning his arms and flailing his legs, the sudden motion sending him toppling over the edge of the balcony.

Sage had sleepwalked to the balcony where he'd first encountered the dream city and had been standing on the railing when he awoke. Because of the startling nature of this dream, the process of him waking up and thrown him off balance and sent him over the wrong edge of the castle, where he was rapidly approaching the ground. Sage screamed in terror, his limbs flailing wildly as he tried to grasp hold of anything to stop his fall.

_Sage. . . you will not die. . ._

Sage could feel tears begin to form around his eyes, as he fell farther and farther, death appearing to be closer and closer. His mind was a panic-stricken mess, mixed with thoughts of his descent and of the strange encounter he'd had in his last dream. He couldn't concentrate on any one thing, and escape from his fall seemed futile.

Until he stopped.

Out of nowhere, Sage realized he had stopped falling in midair. His heart racing, his skin sweating bullets and his body trembling, Sage stared upwards at the stormy Nether World sky in fear. Was he dead? Had he already hit the ground and this was his spirit floating around aimlessly? After all, many of the stories Sage had heard about ghosts involved spirits that were unaware that they had died, or were too shocked to believe they were dead. Could this be his case?

But before long his body seemed to move into an upright position, and he felt. . . mystical. He thoughts began to clear, and he felt at peace. A warm glow enveloped him, bringing warmth to his cold, sweat-soaked skin like a mother's comfort, and he felt at ease. He'd never felt so at ease before in his entire life, and the idea of it felt wonderful.

Without even thinking to make the gesture, Sage threw his arms and head back, arching his spine in the process. Though part of him was confused as to what was happening, a natural instinct inside of him he had never noticed before urged him on, telling him this was what he had to do. Sage believed the instinct, trusting it. This was a part of him, a part of him he had ignored for many years. Now it was time to listen to it.

Sage closed his eyes, and felt his body begin to transform.

In an instant, Sage felt a tickling sensation on his back as two limbs grew from the areas between his shoulder blades and his spine, a crackling sound emerging with them. Sage moaned in slight pleasure- it felt as if these things had been scrunched up inside him his entire life, and they were finally able to stretch after sixteen long years of dormancy. It was an amazing feeling, and it gave him a sense of inner peace.

The limbs grew longer and longer, expanding as the transformation progressed. The instinctive half of Sage was estatic while the logical half was dolefully fascinated. Sage wrapped his arms around his chest, brought his clasped and crossed hands to his neck, and bent his head forward, giving this new part of him more room to grow and move. Oh, how sweet that movement felt! 

Finally, the transformation was over the limbs were flapping freely, keeping Sage aloft and away from the ground. As the mood died down, Sage's senses began to return to normal, and he looked up. Still hugging himself, Sage pushed himself towards the sky and back to his friends.

~

"Sage? Yoo-hoo, Earth to Sa-age! You missed breakfast, dude!" Kento called into his room, knocking at the door. He grunted. He could hear movement inside the room, but Sage wasn't coming out. "Dude, this isn't funny! You've been holed up in there all DAY! It's almost lunch time and I'm NOT going let your lunch get cold like your breakfast did! And guess what??? Cye's making the pasta salad with the little pieces of ham and cheese! That's one of your favorite foods!"

". . . Kento. . . I don't know if I can come out. . ."

Getting irritated with the exchange going on between his friends, Cye left the kitchenette area and stomped over towards Sage's door. "Sage, this isn't funny! You need to eat whether you like it or not! If something's bothering you please tell us! We're your friends, after all!"  
"No, I think this is serious."

"Okay Sage, I'm going to give you a choice. Either you open up the door right now or else Cye and I are barging in. It's your choice. You either open the door yourself or guarantee Dash free access to your underwear, and you know what he did to my socks last week!" Kento said. Dash, who was chewing on one of the aforementioned socks nearby, picked up his head at the mention of his name and barked at Kento. Hardrock looked down at the dog and shook his head. "Um, not quite, Dash."

Dash didn't seem to understand this. He dropped the sock, pushed himself up, and bounced over to Kento's leg, head-butting him affectionately. Kento rolled his eyes and picked up the puppy, giving him a tummy rub and a scratch behind the ear before putting him down in time to see Sage was opening his bedroom door.

His room was uncharacteristically dark.

". . . this isn't like you, Sage," Cye said as he boldly stepped into the room, his hands on his hips. "Usually your room is well let even at bedtime. Did Cara or Cale come by and play with the lights or something? Because if they did Trulpa will yell at them- the Warlords and Warladies aren't allowed in our quarters because she can't trust them alone with us." This was true. After Kento had nearly been raped by the Warlords, Trulpa had made it very clear to Kayura, the Warladies, the Warlords, and the three captives that under no circumstances were the groups to mix without her being present.

"No. . . it's not that," Sage said.

Kento stepped in, followed by Dash, who was trying to chew on the bottom of Hardrock's hamakas. "Can we please turn the light on? The dog has decided I'm his personal chew toy and I don't want to step on him cause I can't see a damn thing in here. So Sage? LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!"

Quietly, the lights went on, and Cye and Kento nearly went into shock.

Sage was only dressed in his hamakas, a rare site to see. Despite the fact they were all men and the society they were used to said I was all right for a man to run around shirtless in private company or special circumstances in public, Sage was very modest and usually only allowed visitors when he was fully dressed. However, considering the circumstances, his friends could see why.

Cye stared and pointed. "Bloody 'ell! You've got wings!"

This was true. Protruding from Sage's back were two yellow structures that seemed two hold several "panes" of green, glossy skin that were slowly beating with each breath he took. They looked similar to the wings one might find on a dragon, only they were on the sleek, lanky form of Sage Date instead of a large flying lizard.

"Sage. . . what's going on?" Kento asked as calmly as he could. 

Trembling, Sage fell to his knees and began to cry hysterically. "I'm so sorry I didn't say anything earlier but I don't know what's going on and I'm sorry and I'm really scared and I'm sorry and I. . . I. . ." Sage said no more as he continued to hyperventilate. Feeling sorry for their friend, Cye and Kento knelt down to where Sage was, each taking a side. Dash, who still didn't seem to understand what was going on, whimpered and slowly crawled to where Sage was, gently laying his head in the boy's lap.

"Sage. . . calm down, please," Cye said softly.

Halo sniffled and wiped away a few of his tears. "I. . . I know the truth now," he said.

"The truth?" asked Kento. "What truth?"

"Kento. . . do you remember when I said that I had some family problems a few months ago?" Sage asked. "When. . . when I tried to kill myself?" Kento nodded calmly, placing a hand on Sage's shoulder. "The family problem was. . . I was. . . I'm not. . . I didn't know who I was."

". . . who you were?" asked Kento.

"You were adopted," said Cye, his eyes wide. 

Sage nodded. "Yes. My. . . the Dates found me one night at the front door in a basket with a blanket and. . . this," he said. Sage pointed to a gold chain around his neck that carried a small charm shaped like a pair of wings identical to the ones he now had. "They called the police and everything, but no one knew who I was. . . so they adopted me." He closed his eyes. "That's what Trulpa was harassing me about. She said I'd been abandoned- which I thought I was at the time- because my real parents didn't love me. That I wasn't good enough for them. She said no one would care what became of me and that's what drove me to try what I did." Sage touched his shoulder and looked at the pale skin. "She chose the fourteenth because that's the day I was raised to _believe_ was my birthday- I really don't have one. It's just a rough estimate the authorities gave everyone during the investigation so they could check hospital birth records."

"Oh Sage," said Kento. "I wish I knew that earlier. . ."

"I don't like talking about," said Sage. He sniffled. "That's also why I haven't talked to my family. I found out I was adopted right before I left for the war. My 'grandfather' had asked me to help him find something in his office when I stumbled across some of the paperwork. I didn't get a good enough look at it to know what it was, but I knew something was suspicious when he snatched them away from me. At any rate, that was the night I had planned to leave anyways, but I wanted to know what he was hiding from me. He told me the truth, and my 'father' and my 'mother' overheard. They started to yell at my 'grandfather', and I got mad at them because they didn't tell me the truth. We got into a huge fight and I haven't really spoken to them since."

"That's why you only wrote them that little note," said Cye.

"Yes," he said. He sighed. "I kinda regret that now, but I'm still mad at them for lying to me about it." He looked up at the ceiling. "Since I found out, I've been trying to figure out who or what I am. Rowen knows I was adopted, but he didn't say anything- he might've said something now that he thinks I'm dead, but I'd imagine there was probably an investigation he could've mentioned it if he thought it was a factor."

"Rowen knew?" Cye said incredulously.

"Before the fighting even started," he said. Sage laughed. "That's why I was such an ass at times. I was trying to find myself and fight a war at the same time. I know that sounds selfish of me to have done that but I had no choice- I couldn't ignore it no matter how much I tried to."

"And. . . what does this have to do with the wings?" Kento asked.

Sage looked over his shoulder, raised one of his wings slightly higher, and batted it back down. He rolled the matching shoulder back, turning his neck the other way. "For the past few weeks I was having these dreams about this. . . city, I guess. . . and there were lots of people with wings. They spoke a language I didn't understand, except for this one man who kept calling me 'Kilon'. This morning I had another one, but the city was deserted except for that man and a baby. The Ancient was there, too, and they started talking about how the man's people were going to die out and how the baby was the only hope. I. . . that baby was me!"

Cye's eyes widened. "That was Crystal Falls. . . the last city of the Flitteree. In your dreams you were visiting the city, and you saw what must've been the events leading to you being placed on the doorstep of your family. I bet the Ancient One put you there so you could grow up with a normal family, right?"

Sage nodded. "That's what I think happened," he said. He smiled. "The last thing I heard was my father. . . or at least, the man I THINK was my real father. . . say that he wanted 'Sage' to have a normal life." He bent his head down. "That. . . that made me feel special. I have the name my REAL father gave me. Sage. I thought that was just something the Dates decided to call me when they took me in. . . but they must've found a note or something with me."

"So how did you suddenly get the wings?" Kento asked.

Sage sighed. "Well, I woke up from my dream standing on a balcony and I fell off on the wrong side. I kept falling and falling, but then I stopped and my wings- and my necklace- appeared. I think my wings appeared from natural instinct, but I don't know where this came from," he said, clutching the tiny gold piece. "I thought I'd lost it when Trulpa kidnapped us- I looked for it, but I couldn't find it. I'm happy to have it back and all, but I don't know how it suddenly got around my neck like this. At any rate, I flew back to my room and locked myself up in here because I have another problem."

Cye cocked his head to one side. "And what would that be?"

"I. . . have no idea how I'm going to keep this a secret."

Kento whistled as he looked at Sage's wings. "Yeah. I don't think a big sweater is gonna hide THOSE puppies- they're freaking HUGE!" Sage frowned, his wings seeming to frown with him. "They're nice wings. . . I guess. . . but Trulpa is going to freak out if she sees them!"

"Well. . . there's probably a way to get rid of them," said Cye.

Sage gave Cye an icy glare. "We are NOT cutting them OFF!"

"I didn't say that!" said Cye, folding his arms over his chest as he began to explain his reasoning. "Let's put it this way, shall we? Sage was born a Flitteree, but didn't know it until now. From the time he was born to right now, he probably had those wings. . . in his back or something, I guess. Maybe there's a way you can retract them when you don't want them to be seen, and bring them out when you need them?"

Kento cleared his throat, then looked his best friend clear in the eyes. ". . . Cye? After we figure out how to hide Sage's wings and get the hell out of this damn Dynasty, remind me to check myself into the hospital." Cye and Sage looked at their friend in confusion. "Dude, I want a catscan. RIGHT NOW!!!"

~

I eliminated the role of Celeste from this fic- Celeste was the winner of a fic contest I had several years ago in which the prize was a role in one of my stories. Originally, Celeste was a survivor of the last stand of the Flitteree. She found baby Sage and was able to keep him and herself hidden from the Dynasty soldiers. Once the coast was clear, she escaped to the Mortal Realm and left him with the Dates.

Though I've just decided to be a royal bitch to Cye, I decided to cut Sage some slack. Granted he has a plethora of new problems to work out, but he must have some peace of mind now knowing the truth behind his "abandonment" and his origins, as awful as they are. Sides, now he knows who to go to for revenge.

This chapter was written very quickly! It just came out like nothing else.

Crystal Cat Chan: Well, she nearly made Sage commit suicide near his "birthday". Though I haven't figured out where to work it in, Cye's wearing shirts with longer sleeves. Well, yeah, it was less painful for Cye in a way, but none the less that was no picnic either. You see, Dash was a cute little innocent puppy here. In the original version, Dash was a full grown Gruff chasing him, Sue Lee, and Sara across town barking and howling. No he won't, but we know who gets the focus next Christmas for them, right? Well, I'm still working out the bugs in it, but I have a few ideas. See, that's the nice thing about the way I write- I write as I get ideas about 80% of the time, so I don't run too high of a risk of revealing spoilers. Oh, you were the first to review this chapter so don't fret.

Sakura123: Yes, sucks to be Cye, but do you really think I'd leave him like that? Yeah. Gruffs are bipedal. Er, kinda- tripedal if you count the butt. Actually, three legged structures are supposed to be superior to four legged ones because it's impossible for them to wobble no matter how uneven the legs are provided all three touch the ground. 

Harry: Yeah, but who's to stay Dash stays with him if/when Kento and Sage escape? I'M WORKING ON THE GIRLS, I SWEAR! See, I was a little stuck on Rona's chapter, but I'm getting closer and closer to the finished product (I'm not working on it now cause I wanna get this out). 

Firestorm: Who doesn't love Cye torture? (Cye: *raises hand* I don't like Cye torture. I like "send-Cye-on-an-all-expenses-paid-trip-to-the-Bahamas" instead!). Thanks!

Bunch-o-nuts: I understand- it takes either a really hard class or some other damn powerful force to get me to stop caring about grades. I like getting good grades. They are more fun than bad ones. Please don't mention summer- that makes me very sad. 

Zammy: I dunno. No, seriously, I dunno- so much has changed from the original that I don't know what's going to happen next. But this is part of a series currently under heavy revision called _The Age of Legends_, which focuses on powers that the Ronins have outside of their armors (you've already read about Kento's divination, Cye's parentage, and now Sage's race). There are several more "roles" in the Age of Legends you have yet to read about- Ryo and Rowen, those of the five Senshi, and a few other players such as Anubis and other characters who either haven't shown up or haven't shown their true colors yet. 

~Dixxy


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Seventeen: Prelude to War

After several hours of reading, experimentation, and some pain of Sage's part, the trio were finally able to train the Flitteree how to better use his wings. The method was mostly based on will-power, but still required practice- Sage likened it to learning how to ride a bicycle, in that it was easy once the learner got the hang of it. They also guessed that it was possible Sage would've had an easier time learning had he grown up with the Flitteree. This made his heart pang, but he kept his emotions inside.

It was also decided that, like Dash, Sage's heritage should remain a secret. Cye remained quiet during that part of their discussion, nervously rubbing his wrist, which was covered by a long-sleeve shirt. Kento and Sage still had no idea Trulpa knew about Dash and, further more, had given him the magical equivalent to a LoJack. Cye wanted to tell them what had happened, but he realized that was probably a bad idea. Dash was just a baby, after all, and it wasn't fair to do that to a baby.

This didn't stop Sage from stretching his wings on occasion. Though he couldn't fly around, it wasn't strange to see him meditating or even sleeping with his wings fully spread, gently flapping as he breathed. And, despite the fact it made NO logical sense, the boys learned Sage could open his wings THROUGH clothing without damaging the clothing or hurting himself. Kento voiced the idea that the Flitteree was a magical species that allowed them to perform feats such as the one Sage was doing on a regular basis. 

Furthermore, Sage's personality was being affected. Prior to his awakening, Sage had been somewhat reserved where he could be that way, grumpy, or even cold to his friends. While Kento and Cye understood his coolness towards them (and even Ryo, Mia, and Yuli, for that matter) was largely due to his identity crisis and the wars, it still bothered them. Now, however, he seemed a little more optimistic and friendly than he had been. Even in the conditions they were living under, Sage seemed to thrive with the small bittersweet comforts he'd found. This was the place of his birth, he had the name his father gave him, and his birth family had apparently loved him and wanted him. It was enough comfort to make him gain that much more hope and determination, which he was embracing. 

And so, even though Sage was obviously changed quite a bit, life went on as it had for the past several months. Whenever Trulpa was mad, she took her aggressions out on them one at a time. The boys practiced their magic, slowly mastering different realms of their magic. Dash was slowly growing, and soon the Ronins began to wonder what they were going to do with the puppy once he was full grown.

It was now in the middle of February, and the boys had been Trulpa's captives for nearly six months. By now they'd given up on returning to Japan for the time being, especially when the issue of Sage's heritage came up- in addition to the amount of time they'd been missing, if someone discovered what Halo was, that would raise unwanted questions and attention. What if Sage was shipped off to a lab somewhere so scientists could run experiments on him? What if he was made into some sort of a media freak? Kento and Cye surely didn't want that for their friend. Still, they couldn't just stay in the Nether Realm. That left the Senshi. They realized Sage was STILL at risk, but if they went to the girls, they'd just be three new kids. In Japan they'd likely get head-to-toe physicals, in which case a doctor may find out Sage was different.

It was also becoming evident that leaving the Senshi to their own devices- Anubis or no Anubis- was a bad idea. They had no idea how well the Senshi were doing with training, but they had their list of concerns. Though Trulpa was bound by some magical laws relating to a first war with the Senshi, anything and everything was fair game for round two. THIS was what worried Sage and his friends. They doubted Trulpa was just having the Warlords and Talpa's old ranks just sitting around twiddling their thumbs- hardly! Most likely they were off training somewhere in preparation for a second assault. Those girls, if they defeated Trulpa, wouldn't be able to kill her, and once she bounced back it was going to be a living nightmare for all involved. Even with Anubis' assistance. No matter how hard they trained, they'd be slaughtered at the hands of the Warladies, Warlords, and, if she went to battle, Kayura.

That was where the Ronin Warriors came in- Sage, Kento, and Cye agreed that the first chance they got following the end of the war they'd pledge some sort of loyalty to the Wildfire girl and ally themselves with the Senshi. Granted there were only three of them, but they did know a LITTLE bit about what was going on inside the walls of Trulpa's castle. Plus, they had their own fighting and magical skills- three more Ronins nearly doubled the entire team, after all. 

There was also the issue of something some people call "taking revenge against the God damn whore who's kept us caged like animals for half a year and smashing her face into a concrete wall". Or at least that's what Kento called the "watered-down" version of it. Cye referred to it as "giving Trulpa an ass kicking" and Sage called it "settling a long-standing dispute in Trulpa's life blood". 

But they knew it was no longer a matter of what they wanted, but what their duty as Ronin Warriors had them do. No matter how much they missed their friends, families, and homes, they knew that they simply COULDN'T leave the Senshi at Trulpa's mercy. If the Senshi were defeated, Trulpa would gain that much more powerful. . . possibly even enough to destroy the Ronin Warriors, too. It was a hard sacrifice to make, but with the safety of the world at stake they had no choice in the matter.

None the less, that didn't make it any easier.

As the half-year mark drew closer, the boys found themselves getting more and more depressed. Sage's newly found optimism was replaced by sulking as every part of his being- even his hair and wings- seemed to be wilting like a dying flower. Kento was eating less- even going so far as to skip the occasional meal- and not talking nearly as much as he used to.

As for Cye. . .

For Sage and Kento, the answer was one thing and one thing only- at least when they went to see the Senshi, they'd have a second chance. They could start over. They had a chance to go to school and pursue careers. They'd probably become friends with the Senshi and get the chance to reunite with Anubis, and maybe even Ryo and the others someday. They knew that the chance of that was slim, but they had that chance, and it was all they had to cling to.

Cye didn't have that chance. No matter how far he ran, Trulpa could pull him back on a whim. He'd be trapped there forever, unless someone found out about it and was able to get it off of him. Somehow, he found that to be unlikely, and had basically given up on getting out. That gave him an unnatural optimism that he tried his hardest to use to at least keep the spirits of his two friends up. He didn't want his friends last memories of him to be upset and weak- let them remember him as being at the very least cheerful. After all. . . it would be similar to him DYING. 

Or, possibly his actual death. . .

Dash, it seemed, was the only one who had any sort of idea what had happened to Cye. True he'd been a witness to the events, but Dash was still just a baby, really, and didn't understand the full extent of what was going on. However, the Gruff seemed to know enough to see that his master was upset and he should help him try and feel better. Cye was somewhat grateful for this, as Dash was the only one he could really talk to about it.

"What am I going to do, Dash?" he asked one night. He was certain Sage and Kento were asleep, and he was lying belly down on his bed, rubbing Dash behind his ears as the puppy snuggled close to his chest. "I feel like I'm going to cause more trouble over this than anything else I've ever done."

Dash whined and pushed his nose into Cye's cheek.

"I know, I know," he said. "You want me to be happy, but I'm really not. I don't think I have been for a very long time. Oh sure I rescued you, and Sage and Kento have been here for me this whole time. . . but even though nothing has happened yet, I still feel like they're already gone and I'm totally alone." He gently began to scratch the side of the dog's face, sighing to himself. "I don't even think I'll want you to stay with me, boy. I want you to escape with them. Sage and Kento will take care of you- I'm sure of it. And I'm sure if you met the Senshi they'll like you, too- I mean, they're girls and girls like animals, right? Especially a baby like you who's obviously been injured pretty badly." He laughed. "Lucky bastard- you're going to be living the high life, aren't you?"  
Dash didn't hear any of this- he was fast asleep.

"I suppose that's just as well," Cye said, closing his eyes to try and sleep.

~

"CYE!!! SAGE!!!"

Sage jumped a good foot or so out of his chair at the sudden outburst from Kento, while Cye nearly dropped a tray of food. Kento had wide, frightened eyes and seemed to be in a great deal of distressed. Sage and Cye went to their friend's aide (though Torrent made sure he put the food down on a nearby table to avoid a mess- no sense in adding to the trouble, after all). 

"Troops!" he said. "Tons of them!"

"Troops?" Sage asked. 

"Trulpa's?" Cye asked. "Something about her Tin Heads?"

Kento nodded. "They're organizing," he said. "I was in one of the libraries looking up more information on my abilities and I saw them outside the window." He gulped. "The Warladies were with them and were trying to get them lined up and in some sort of marching positions."

Cye's eyes widened. "They're preparing for the battle," he said.

"It's a matter of days now, isn't it?" said Sage. He lowered his eyes. "Trulpa hasn't paid much attention to us late, and I've noticed a severe drop in punishments. Quite frankly we're just an inconvenience if she's going to laugh an attack. Since Trulpa's preparing to mobilize, then I REALLY hope Anubis is preparing the Senshi to mobilize as well."

"What can we do!?" Kento asked.

"Nothing," said Cye. "Our hands are tied, remember? All we can do is sit and watch."

Kento punched his open palm. "I can't do that! How can we just sit around twiddling our thumbs while the Senshi are out there fighting? What if it gets so bad out there that one of them runs the risk of getting killed?! I can't sit back and watch that happen!"

"One, even if a situation like that arose, how would you help them from here?" said Sage. "SHE has our armor orbes and I doubt we'll be allowed to roam the grounds during this battle- she's probably going to lock us in here somehow. If not, we're going to be severely restricted. However, we should try to dissect the Law of Dependency."

"What good is that gonna do us?" Kento whined.

Cye smirked, getting at what Sage had been hinting at. "Undoubtedly, we cannot battle with the Senshi at this time. Sage is saying their might be a loop-hole that allows us to possibly sabotage Trulpa from the inside. After all, Anubis is helping the Senshi to some extent. If he can do that, there must be some sort of loophole, and there could be others. If it says 'battle' specifically, then we can do whatever we want from the inside."

"AND we should be working on an escape plan, too," said Kento. "My bet is that things are gonna be tight around here for a while, but once the Ronin Senshi beat Trulpa, this place is gonna fall apart like a house of cards in an earthquake. If the security is down, we can find our armor orbes and get the hell out of here, find the Senshi, and tell them what's been going on. Sure they might think we're crazy, but I bet Anubis will confirm we're good guys."

_You two escape. . . but bring my armor orbe with you,_ Cye thought.

"Right," said Sage. "But even in that chaos, Trulpa knows that'll be the first place we go. She might have some sort of back-up security guards or something in the event we try that stunt. Trulpa's not going to let us go easily. We should lay low for a while, then have our tell-all with Anubis and the Senshi. Even if we're just loitering around homeless shelters for a month that'll be better than nothing."

"Homeless shelters!?" said Kento.

"The Ronin Senshi live in Boston, Massachusetts. It's no New York or Los Angeles, but it's a pretty big city none the less," said Sage. He frowned. "A lot of major cities have large homeless populations in the United States, but because of that there's a ton of shelters. As long as the three of us stick together we'll be fine, but it's something we'll have to live with for a while." He looked around. "It'll sure take some adjusting."

"How so?" asked Cye. "I've love to get the hell out of here."

"We might be prisoners here, but take a look around you," said Sage, gesturing to the room they sat in. "This apartment and our old rooms. . . they're absolutely beautiful! All of the wood is finely carved, we eat with what appears to be real silver, and admit it- the beds are warm, comfy, and soft. We probably have better amenities than some of the richest people in the world!"

"Do you think she's trying to spoil us?" asked Cye.

"More like bribing, really," said Sage. "She probably figures that if and when we escape, we'll miss the high life and come back on our own." The bearer of Halo laughed. "The Nether Realm may be my place of birth, but it's not my home. I could care less about all this. I'd much rather sleep on a cot in a crowded room with drug addicts, runaway prostitutes, and bums than here."

"Sounds like one hell of a party," Kento joked under his breath.

Sage either ignored him or didn't hear him. "Here, I'm still a caged bird," he said. "All my life I've felt like I've been trapped in a cage. It's always a very pretty cage, but the outside is always better. In the cage I'm confined and held down. When I was a kid it was my family constantly making me practice and learn to be the heir to a clan I'm not even a part of. Sometimes I was set free whenever Rowen came to visit, but once he was gone I was shoved back in." He looked down into his lap. "Mia's mansion for me was like paradise- I was FREE. I didn't have to be put in a cage anymore. Here, I've just been placed in a prettier, smaller cage." He closed his eyes. "I don't want to be a caged bird anymore."

"Be patient, Sage," said Cye. "Your time will come. You'll get out of here."

"We ALL will," Kento joined in, moving behind Cye. Cye blushed sheepishly, unable to tell his friends the truth. Sage's words held quite a bit of truth- they were all caged birds waiting for the door to be opened. But unlike Halo and Hardrock, Torrent feared he would never fly again.

"Now what we need is a plan," said Sage.

Kento laughed lightly. "You remember how many times I got mad at you when you said that during the fight with Talpa?" he joked. Sage gave him a light elbow before getting up to go to his bedroom. The other two Ronins decided to follow to see what he was up to. Dash, who'd been sleeping in a corner, woke up and followed the other two for the sake of following them.

Now that all three (four if you count Dash) were in Sage's room, they saw he was sitting down at his desk, a writing implement in hand. He was staring at the paper in disgust, tapping the instrument in his hand. "Okay, Sage, now that Kento's agreed to a plan, it doesn't look like you even have one," Cye commented.

"Er. . . well, I'm not sure how we're going to go about this," said Sage. "Trulpa can restrict out teleportation to a limited area." Kento and Cye nodded in agreement. "We can call that Plan A, since we think it's possible everything will go to pieces during a battle. Now we need a Plan B."

"Dash is supposed to be able to breathe fire, right?" said Kento. "Could he-?"

"I don't think he'd old enough for that yet," said Cye. 

"Scratch that," said Kento. "All right, what about somehow finding a way to contact Anubis during the battle? He probably won't be involved- I don't know how he's gotten around the Law of Dependency considering he's. . . HEY! Does that mean anything to either of you?"

". . . no," said Cye. "Recall that Osiris has his armor. Maybe being an-"

"Actually he has only LIMITED power to help them- as it stands he's mostly a coach right now," said Sage. "He can step in once in a while, but his association with his armor is too strong." Kento and Cye looked at him in curiosity. "'found another book on the Law of Dependency crap." He pointed to a green volume on his desk. "Read it if you want, but it has a chapter on how it works for former armor bearers. Either way, he probably won't be involved in the final battle."

"Then maybe he can help us then," said Kento. "We contact him, he bails us out, and we do the whole 'laying low' thing for a while. We could periodically feed him information or something for him and the Senshi as 'payment'. I mean, think about it. He was friends with Ryo and Rowen, Yuli worshipped him like he did us, and I STILL think he and Mia did THE DEED. If anything, we're his least favorites. Heck Sage, you pissed him off a few times AFTER he was a good guy."

"The whole killing Kayura thing? He knows she was trying to kill us first!"

"That isn't the point! What I'm saying is-"

"But we're still on his side," said Cye, interrupting. "And the night we were rescued he and I did have a long conversation. He seemed generally concerned about our welfare. I told him I was surprised at that considering he didn't know us very well, but he said that sometimes he has these very strong paternal instincts."

"Paternal?" Sage asked.

"Like parents?" asked Kento. "Why?"

"He wants to be a father, but he's afraid to be one," said Cye. He sighed heavily, looking down at Dash. "He wouldn't tell me why, but highly suggested that none of us have children either. None the less, it sounds like he's afraid something God-awful would happen if he became a father."

Sage shrugged. "He's probably afraid that a child would be used against him- you know, for ransom or something. I don't think the Ancient would do that. . . but now that he's a good guy, well, Talpa would've done it and Trulpa. . . that or kill the kid. I don't blame him for hesitating on fatherhood."

"What does that mean for us?" asked Kento. "Even after all this crap happened, well, I still want to get married and have kids someday. I never thought about the Dynasty going after them like that. Hell, if I ever got married my wife would probably kill me for that one."

"No," said Cye. "It seemed like it was more than that." He glanced down at Dash, and rubbed the Gruff behind the ears. "Something much worse than that. Anubis sounded generally. . . afraid, but it was almost like he was afraid for the entire world. Not just the child."

The three friends exchanged a worried glance. 

"Something doesn't seem quite right here," said Kento. "I'd bet my left arm that at least TWO of the Warlords have had sex in their centuries alive- be it hookers, one-night stands, or maybe even lovers they had before they got their armors. And birth control hasn't been around quite that long. Isn't it possible that one of them has a child they don't know about running around? Or if it was a while ago, one that ran around?"

"It's possible, I guess," said Cye. "But-"

"I highly, highly, highly doubt it," Sage said. While Kento and Cye had been talking, Sage had opened another book. "I thought I saw something about children in this book, and here it is." He pointed at a paragraph. "No armor bearer, as of this writing, has ever fathered or given birth to a child. The child would be known as the Child of Destiny. This child would bring forth a prophecy known as the Age of Legends."

"What the hell is the Age of Legends?" Kento asked,

"I dunno, that's what the book says," said Sage. He sighed. "I haven't ever seen anything else on it, and I've gone through these books plenty of times. Sounds to me like that might've been what was worrying Anubis." He frowned. "When we get back home we should ask Anubis about this more in-depth."

"Right," said Cye. "I wonder what the Child of Destiny is?"

"Who knows? That's why we're going to ask him about it," said Kento. He yawned, shaking his head. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to bed. All this weird thinking and stuff is giving me a headache and I'm gonna go lie down. If you need me, be weary of anything I might throw and then come in."

"We'll be careful," said Sage, standing up. "I'm gonna go take a bath."

"I guess I'll be in my room," said Cye, shrugging. He left Sage's room, his mind still buzzing about the concept of the Child of Destiny. To think that such a person had never existed before. Had none of the armor bearers ever had any children? Was he doomed to never have any himself?

"_Isn't it possible that one of them has a child they don't know about running around?_"

Cye stopped.

"But. . . I'm. . . illegitimate. . . nah!"

~

Irony, irony, oh how I love thou, irony!

Dark Knight Gafgar: No comment.

Harry: Yup. Well, I'm still working out the bugs with Dash. I ultimately know where he ends up- it's just a matter of figuring out how to get from Point A to Point B. Hey, I have a life, you know! I got lots of stuff I gotta do.

Crystal Cat-chan: Yes, Sage's situation is pretty peculiar. He has a big burden to bear for the rest of his life unless he finds a pocket or refugee Flitteree somewhere (don't count on that, though). He has to deal with the fact that he could very well be the last of his species, and the continuation of said species depends entirely on whether or not he has children. It seems like the easier answer is to have Sage have children, but it isn't quite that easy- does he really want his children to deal with the same burden? And unless you have icky incest going on, the Flitteree DNA will eventually be so far back in the gene pool that they're literally fade out of existence. There's more I could go into but I won't for now. I love Cye torture as long as it isn't excessive. For example, I'm not a big fan of the fifth Harry Potter book. Now I don't wanna see wizard boy on easy street, but I just think it's a bit much. Yup, they're green and yellow. I have some drawings of them- I MIGHT have one on my website but I'm not sure. Cye is Cye? That cracks me up! ^.~ Ryo's power is forthcoming. Initially I was gonna do something completely different, but I came up with a much better idea. 

Sakura123: You wanna mortgage your house on that? Yes, this is a very "eep" story and will probably be the closest I write to a full-out horror fanfic. I'm not saying this is horror, but it's certainly got some creepy stuff in it. I'm not a horror movie fan. I could barely handle _The Mummy_ (the newer one from a few years ago)- I was hiding under my jacket on at least one occasion. 

Bunch-o-Nuts: Readers who've been with me for a while already knew that one- this is a re-write, but Sage found out what he was MUCH later in the original version. Dash and Sage might get a little closer now that Sage knows he's from the same place Dash is from. They are the only two good characters (as of yet) who were born in the Nether Realm. Most of the key characters were born in the Mortal Realm- including nine of the ten Ronins. The nine Ronins born in the Mortal Realm are going to stay born in the Mortal Realm, but friends and family are subject to change at my whim. I like writing character analysis type things, so I'm working on a big-ass character guide for fun. Won't be released for a while as it will contain spoilers for things that haven't happened yet that will severely affect the way some characters act. I have some SERIOUS plans for screwing with the heads of several characters- remember _Dark Chocolate, White Diamonds_ and how many spoilers and bombs I had go off in that? That was only the beginning. I have just begun to write!

Rogue Ronin: That's okay. And thank you.

Kar-chan: Life happens- do not sweat it. Yes, Cye really loves Dash- and we all know I love screwing Cye over, don't I? That was Dash's original name! The Butt Monster! I swear, out of everything in this entire series Dash is the most random creature I've created. I don't know. . . the fact Sage knows doesn't change the Amazons story in that sense. All of the stories will be different and broken up to some degree and major changes will be made. I love drunk Rowen.

Narijima: Thanks! I'm happy you're enjoying the story! Well, here's the next chapter!

Lady Wildfire: It happens to me, too. Sometimes I look at a story and go "wow, I left such an awesome review for them", then realize I didn't. Oh well. Glad you're enjoying the story.

Ileana Dubaer: There was no way in hell I was gonna spell that name without copy and paste. Wow, am I really that exciting? Dashy? That. . . is. . . AWESOME. The Senshi are involved in another story entitled "Ronin Senshi Routes v2", which can be found on my account. So far all I have is a five-part prologue that talks about the Senshi's pasts, but I do have a few chapters off-line that I'm not 100% sure I'm happy with but are definitely forth-coming. That story will probably be a few chapters longer than this one, but both stories end at the beginning of the Senshi's first war with Trulpa- that will begin a new story that views the war from all standpoints. I'm doing that because the first time I wrote this series I wrote and basically completed _Consequences_ before I began _Legends_- this was a bad idea, because I realized not all the events matched up. This gives me more freedom, to really flesh out the battle rather than try to get it to match up to events from another story. THAT can be a real pain! I'm still playing around with ideas pertaining to the bracelet, but we'll see what happens.

Shadowcat: Thanks! I will!

~Dixxy


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Eighteen: From Father to Son

~

__

Many months earlier. . .

~

_I know I can't sleep,_ Cye thought, turning over in his sleeping bag. He'd spent the past hour or so trying to fall asleep, but he couldn't do it. His mind was buzzing with a flood of thoughts and his eyelids refused to gain any weight. Groaning, Cye sat up and looked around the small training hut he and the other Ronins had dubbed their temporary base of operations. 

There wasn't much to see. Mia was curled up in a far off corner, a happy smile on her face. Cye couldn't help but wonder why she was so happy. Shrugging it off, his eyes moved to where Sage and Rowen sat back to back, their chins resting on their chests as they softly sawed logs. Torrent smiled at the image- it was rather amusing. That left Kento, Yuli, and Ryo, who were all using White Blaze as a pillow. Ryo was nuzzled by the tiger's head while Kento and Yuli were resting against his back. That left himself and their new ally. Curious, Cye began to look for Anubis, but only saw the Ancient's Staff resting in the corner.

A gagging noise outside confirmed the monk's whereabouts.

Cye rushed outside to investigate, careful not to wake the others. He could handle whatever it was, and with a big battle tomorrow. . . well, better one weary Ronin than five. As soon as he was out the door, Cye whipped his head around to try and find the source of the terrible sound. He stepped out further, listening carefully. It appeared to be coming from Cye's right, so to the right he went.

As he rounded the corner of the tiny hut, he saw Anubis standing up, wiping the corners of his mouth with a white handkerchief. Before him was a bucket and splatters of something wet and creepy looking. The large rice bowl hat was lying on the ground a few feet away, and Cye could see a sad look in his former enemy's eyes. The monk dropped his hands to his sides and breathed heavily, looking very depressed. Thinking about his words carefully, Cye opened his mouth to speak. "Anubis?"

Anubis jumped at the sound of Cye's voice and stared at the Ronin in shock. He fell to the ground, crashing on his bottom as he scrambled to regain his senses. Feeling responsible for the spill, Cye rushed over to Anubis and offered a hand. The older man looked at the hand, then back at Cye, and took it. 

Once he was on his feet, however. . .

"What are you doing up!?" Anubis hissed. Cye stepped back at the comment. "You should be resting! You and your friends need to be well-rested for the battle! For heaven's sake, Torrent, you've just seen first-hand what Talpa is capable of! Now why on Earth are you still awake?"

"I. . . I can't sleep, I'm sorry," he said. He looked up at Anubis- Cye was still fairly small for his age, and Anubis was at least of average height. "I've got a lot on my mind. And then I heard you. . . retching. Anubis, are you sick?" He cocked his head to one side, then saw that whatever Anubis had thrown up included blood. His eyes got wide as he turned to the older man in terror. "Anubis, you're coughing up blood! You're REALLY sick! Is there anything we can do to help you get better?"  
Anubis shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said. "You and the other Ronins should be more concerned about fighting off Talpa and the . . . other Warlords, not worrying about me. I'm a grown man, I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

"Just because you're grown doesn't mean that," said Cye. He lowered his head and looked at the ground. "My mother lives in a nursing home because she can't take care of herself anymore!" Cye stopped, recalling the soft spot in his personal life. He turned his head away, unsure if he could continue. "I. . . I'm sorry. . ." This earned the young Ronin a look of shock from Anubis, who was having trouble comprehending this.

"But. . . she's got to be too young to be in a place like that. . ."

Cye shook his head. "She was in her late-thirties when I was born. The pregnancy was very hard on her. I know women are supposed to be able to have children until they're forty or so, but it's quite a risk. Shortly after I was born she started having a lot of trouble with her heart. Most of the time she was fine when I was growing up. . . but last year my older sister called me to tell me that our mum asked to be put there. My sister's a lot older than I am, and she'd struggled trying to balance night school, watching me, and taking care of mum after she graduated high school. Mum wanted her to have a chance to enjoy her youth, so she admitted herself to the home," he said.

". . . why weren't you there when that happened?"

Cye laughed. "I'm not from Japan- I was born in England."

"Oh!" said Anubis. "I've been there before."

This took Cye by surprise. "You serious?"

Anubis nodded. "The other Warlords and I went there when we wanted to have time to ourselves. Talpa didn't pay too much attention to that area of the Mortal World, so it was a good place for us to go. Evil or not, we wanted to go out and play, too." He coughed, and Cye instinctively put his hand on his back. Anubis batted the Ronin's hand away, shaking his head.

"Cye, there's nothing you can do. The best thing you can do for me is to just keep fighting. You understand me, young man?" Cye nodded dumbly, and Anubis placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're a strong young man. Your parents and your sister must be very proud of you."

Cye looked down to the ground. "I only have my mother. Never knew my father."

"Oh."

"Not your fault."

Anubis looked up at the stars. "Poor kid. Your mother is sick, you don't have your father. . . how do you cope with it?" he asked. He turned back to Cye. "Don't you ever feel upset that you don't have what most children have growing up? Or is it something so foreign to you that you don't know what to miss?"  
"Both," said Cye. "My friends back in England had dads, and I lived with Kento's family for a while and he's got a great dad, but watching other peoples' fathers is. . . I don't know how to explain it. I feel a little jealous at times, but it's not like I didn't have any father figures at all. I have a lot of uncles, and Kento's father took a shine to me pretty early on." He shook his head. "My personal life isn't important! You need help-"

"Cye, I don't want to talk about that!" Anubis snapped. Cye quieted, feeling as if he were about three times smaller in size. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so harsh. Let's put it this way- you don't have TIME to find something to help me. Talpa's too close to taking over the Mortal Realm, and I don't think you'd be able to live with yourself if you chose one person- especially a person who's done the things I've done- over the entire world."

"All right, but once this is all over we're taking you to a doctor," said Cye. Anubis laughed and led Cye to a wooden bench they'd been using for a variety of training exercises. They sat down, Anubis having a somewhat distant look in his eyes as he began to speak.

"You were the only one who trusted me right away, you know."

"I know."

"Why was that? I know your armor is guided by trust, but that was awful quick."  
Cye fidgeted with his fingers, going through several old grammar school games. As he made the church and the steeple with his hands, he sighed and continued. "Not sure. I guess I just accepted it." He shrugged. "Don't feel like I would've done that for Cale or Dais, and certainly not Sehkment, but you. . . I don't know. Maybe it's because we fought so hard to try and keep you from getting taken back to Talpa by the Warlords before the Ancient One died, but I don't really know for sure."

"At any rate. . . I'm glad you didn't attack me."

Cye laughed. "No problem."

Silence reigned for a few minutes before Anubis spoke up again.

"You're handling things pretty well."

"What things?"

"Cye, Talpa had you, Kento, and Sage locked up like dogs in that awful place. All three of you seem to be coping fairly well. I haven't seen any of you actually react to what happened," said Anubis. He looked at Cye. "How are you bottling your emotions like that?"

"I try not to think about it," Cye said. 

"It's going to come back and haunt you."

"I can deal with that."

"Are you sure?"  
"No."

Sighing, Anubis pulled Cye into an awkward hug. The younger boy's hands were at his sides. "You're going to get through it. You're going to go on with your life. One day it'll all be just a bad memory, and you can put it behind you. But. . . I want you to keep this in mind."

"Keep what in mind?" asked Cye. _Why is he hugging me?_

And why haven't I shoved him away yet?

Cye was thoroughly confused. Normally he didn't like receiving affections from other men (except for his uncles and Kento, the latter being like a brother to him). Something about Anubis made him feel safe and secure, and in a way he didn't want the embrace to end. But why did he feel that way?

"Whatever you do. . . never have children."

Cye pulled away from the embrace in surprise and shock. Turquoise eyes met turquoise eyes in a strange stare. "Never. . . have any children? But, if I ever got married, how would I explain that to my wife? I mean, I don't want any children right now, but that's a pretty big thing to keep in mind. I-"

Anubis pressed a finger to Cye's lips. "Horrible things could happen if any of you have children," he said. He lowered his hand, satisfied that he had Cye's attention. "I've always wanted children. When I was younger, before the armors, I wanted to teach my sons to be honorable samurai and bring honor to my family's name- Doji. But once I received my armor. . . everything changed." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Sometimes I feel like I should be a parent. I enjoyed watching Yuli while Mia did her research. It made me realize just how much I wish I could have one, but I'm too afraid to."

"What are you so afraid of?" asked Cye.

"You don't want to know. I'm sure Mia has information on it, and she'll probably come across it soon enough," he said. "I just don't want to say it myself. I know you probably don't understand this, but it isn't easy to say. You're just a kid, after all." Anubis paused when Cye frowned. "Don't take that as an insult. Out of the five you seem to have the most innocence, so to speak. Everyone else, especially Sage, seems to be rushing to grow up. You don't seem to have that desire, and I admire that. You have your youth, don't you?"  
"I'm fifteen."

Anubis pressed his lips together. "Fifteen. You really ARE a kid." He scoffed. "Most of your predecessors were well into their twenties or thirties, you know. And now the Ancient has chosen children. Granted the five of you are doing better than anyone before you, but you're all going to end up in therapy for a good part of the rest of your young lives."

Cye laughed. "Yeah, right!"

"Wanna try me?"

Cye gave Anubis a light shove. "I'll be fine. The five of us have each other. We can bandage our physical wounds and talk out the emotional ones. As long as the five of us are together, we'll be all right. Nothing will stop us then," he said. He smiled. "And you can be there, too, Anubis."

~

The next day, the Ronin Warriors set off to fight Talpa. After all nine armor bearers were captured, Anubis escaped, saved Lady Kayura, and took his last breath before plummeting into the stream below the bridge. Cye's conversation with the other man was a memory now.

And now. . .

Cye wasn't sure what to think of it all anymore. The conversation was something he thought about a lot. He and Anubis made some sort of a bond that night, and now Cye wasn't sure if it was there or lost with his passing. Anubis was alive again. That complicated things.

For once, Cye was alone in his room. For whatever reason, Dash had decided to keep Sage company that night, and Kento had gone to bed early. That gave him time to think. Sitting on his bed, he had done nothing but think for the past hour. Things were getting more and more confusing as the days went by, and Cye wasn't sure what to think of anything anymore. 

THUMP!

Cye turned behind him to see a pile of Mortal Realm clothing on the bed and Cara behind him. Cye was about to say something, but the quiet Warlady shook her head. "I have no evil intentions," she said. She held up her hands, the silk robes she wore sliding down to her elbows to emphasize the point. "I come in peace. I don't even have my armor orbe on me."

"What are you doing here, anyways?" Cye hissed.

Cara frowned. "Please, just get dressed. I promise I'm not looking- I'm blind, you know." Cye's eyes widened in surprise. "You probably don't believe me, but it's true. You could be naked right now for all I know." She gulped. "You, uh, aren't, are you?" Cye shook his head. "Are you?"

_Maybe she's telling the truth,_ Cye wondered. "No, not right this second."

"I'm going to take you to the Mortal Realm briefly."

Cye's mood lightened. Confusion or not, just a chance to stand on the soil of his home world would be enough to last him another year in the Dynasty. "Are you serious? You're taking me home?! Are Sage and Kento coming too?! Are you changing sides and leaving Trulpa or-"

"BRIEFLY," Cara emphasized, her expression darkening again. "The clothes are loners and once we're done your ass will be back here." She turned her back. "Get dressed. Quickly, please. I shouldn't be doing this, but there are some things I still believe all people should be entitled too."

"Like what?" Cye asked, now fully naked and reaching for the underwear Cara had provided. As he pulled on the pair of boxer shorts, he looked at the woman in curiosity. "Please tell me this isn't some kind of trick. Because you know Trulpa will kill you if you try anything stupid."

"This is a stupid move, don't worry about that. But you need to do this."

Cye zipped the fly of his jeans, the texture of the denim feeling foreign after a year without it. What could Cara mean by that? "I have to do what?" he asked. Reaching for the hooded sweatshirt and pulling it over his head, Cye continued his question. "What's so important for me to see in the Mortal Realm that you'd risk getting in trouble over?"

"Cye. . . your mother is dead."

~

Cara had done her homework very well. She'd temporarily jammed Cye's leash, occupied Trulpa with a loose family of gargoyle gremlins in the castle for added insurance, and done a little extra research on the typical attire of English teenagers and adults. Now Cye could be undisturbed as he paid his last respects.

Cye hadn't believed her at first. But once he was fully dressed, Cara began to argue her point. She knew his mother had heart troubles and lived in a nursing home. She informed him that shortly after she learned he went missing she had a massive heart attack. She'd spent several months in a hospital before she finally succumbed. Cye knew that what Cara told him was plausible, but he still didn't listen. Frustrated, Cara grabbed his wrist and teleported.

Their destination was a graveyard. Cye's eyes widened in shock as he FELT the Mortal Realm around him, caressing him and welcoming him home. That alone nearly brought him to tears. They were DEFINITELY in the Mortal Realm now. No Nether Realm magic could even begin to replace this. THIS was the real deal. 

As he looked around. . . he realized that he knew this graveyard.

This was where his mother's late husband had been buried.

It was a burial grounds that his mother's family had used in the past. The only biological grandparents he knew were both buried here as well as an aunt who had cancer and a young cousin who'd died in a drunk driving accident- Cye had attended all four funerals. The layout of the land was identical (albeit time had added more grave markers), and he noted a few graves had a small British flag flapping in the night sky. It WAS late- probably around midnight- and they were alone.

Cye was creeped out by being in a graveyard at midnight with one of his captors, but realized that, if Cara was telling the truth, this was the only way to do it. He couldn't go during the daytime and get spotted by relatives who knew he'd gone missing and create a racket. THAT would get the attention of Ryo and Rowen, or even better, Anubis and the Senshi. That was an almost guaranteed ticket home. But with no one around, no one would know Cye had visited the grave.

"Go," said Cara. Cye nodded, choosing his path carefully as he moved towards the headstone that marked the grave of Minoru Mouri, the Japanese businessman his mother had married many years before he was born. The man whose last name he had only by means of legal documents. It was a double-headstone marker, with room for his mother's name left so she could be buried beside him.

Cye could see it. Gulping, he walked closer. Every step seemed to take an eternity, and the grass below his sneakers seemed to be deafeningly loud. As he drew closer, Cye's heart began to pound and tears began to roll down his face. This was getting more and more real. More and more believable.

When he saw his mother's date of death carved into the cold stone, he feel to his knees and cried out in despair. He cupped his hands over his face as his form was wracked with tears. The most important woman in his life was gone forever, and one thought rang through his head:

_I killed her_.

Her heart problems began when he was born. Her heart problems increased as he got in trouble as a child and put a burden on her. Her problems got worse as she couldn't afford all of the medication, having to buy enough food and clothing for him and his sister. Her heart pained when he went to Japan. And her heart gave out when he vanished into this air.

Her life gave out on his sixteenth birthday.

_I killed her! Oh God, oh God, I killed my mother!_

~

I wanted an introspective type thing between Cye and Anubis prior to the two learning of their relation, which was the main purpose of this chapter. Cye's mother's death also bears some significance.

Next up we'll be having an epilogue- WITH A SONG! Because I like lyrics to songs. They make me happy. Or sad.

Harry: Sabotage is going to be difficult for the Ronins to pull off- in general, they're going to play a very dormant role in the next fic with maybe the exception of Kento and Keisha's first contact. Technically they can't involve themselves in the first war on either side, so a lot of what they'll be doing is escape attempts. Heh, _Dragonia_. Funny. It's a fic that I'm having trouble really getting rolling. I have IDEAS for it, but it's the leading phases that bug me. No, I cannot just drop the leading phase. What's this group thing?

Morgan Ray: Yes indeed! Thank you for liking the chapter. Gruff? This is Dash's species. Check out Chapter Fifteen (or sixteen by FF.Net's rules) for info on his species. A LoJack is a kind of car security system. I'm not sure QUITE how it works, but in layman's terms it helps the police track down the car's location so it can be recovered.

Sakura123: Oh, that? Well, it's a term that questions the stability of a bet. A mortgage is NOT insurance- mortgage is what you're paying back the bank after you take out a loan to purchase a house. You need to mortgage your house on a sturdy payment, hence the term. For me, it depends on the commercial. What is P.O.D.? Yeah, it was a description heavy chapter. This one wasn't so bad, and of course we know about the epilogue.

~Dixxy


	20. Epilogue

Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Epilogue

__

Call you up in the middle of the night 

Like a firefly without a light 

You were there like a blowtorch burning 

I was a key that could use a little turning 

_I can hear them._ Sage didn't like the sounds of the troops mobilizing. Even though he wasn't sure on the exact geographic location of the apartment, he knew it was close enough to Trulpa's army to hear them moving out. The clanking of metal was in perfect unison, several commands being yelled out by Warladies and officers alike.

Sage pulled his blanket more closely around himself, hugging one of his pillows in fear. He didn't like this sudden feeling of being afraid. No matter how many times he'd been dragged up and down the rocky road to and from Hell over the past several months, this was terrifying.

Even with all of the troops he had seen during his battles with Talpa, this was scarier. Talpa's troops were wild, out-spoken, and high-strung. None the less, they were also very disorganized and easy to take down. They were foolish warriors and didn't stand a chance against any of the Ronin Warriors.

Trulpa's forces worked together like clockwork.

So tired that I couldn't even sleep 

So many secrets I couldn't keep 

Promised myself I wouldn't weep 

One more promise I couldn't keep 

_Good GOD MY HEAD!_ Kento had his pillow crammed over his head, trying to suppress the throbbing headache he was enduring. He whimpered, trying to get rid of the horrible pounding his powers were giving him. He shuddered, cold, unhappy, and feeling very miserable as the army began to move.

As he tried to sleep and forget about what was going on around him, images of screaming people and vicious battles ran through his head. Undoubtedly the Senshi were the people in the familiar Ronin armors, trying to ward off Tin Heads and Warladies with all they had. Occasionally he could see Anubis coming to the defense of a small girl with purple eyes who was clinging to his robes in terror.

_None of this is even happening yet, so why do I have to live with it now?! Can't I sleep? How can I survive the next. . . oh man, how long is this all gonna last!. . . without getting any sleep? I'll be of no use to anyone, and I'll be vulnerable again! Please, make this stop!_

Kento's plea wasn't answered.

It seems no one can help me now 

I'm in too deep there's no way out 

This time I have really led myself astray 

"Shh. . . it's okay, Dash. It's all right," Cye whispered, trying to comfort the trembling puppy his arms were wrapped around. Cye was sitting up in bed, holding Dash close to him a he tried to coax the beast back to sleep. Dash continued to whimper, nuzzling his head into Cye's shoulder. 

Resting his back against the headboard, Cye listened as the sounds of the troops got louder and louder. It sounded like they were passing their apartment, probably mocking them in a way. They knew there was little they could do in the coming weeks to help the Senshi. All they had the power to do was try and escape. And keep poor Dash calm and under control.

Dash licked Cye's shoulder, and the boy rubbed the puppy behind his ears. His mind was racing back and fourth between two people who would be out on the battlefield. One was his partner in arms- someone whom he shared a common bond with, yet had never met. But somehow, Cye felt that if they met, a bond WOULD form.

The other. . . was Anubis.

Runaway train never going back 

Wrong way on a one way track 

Seems like I should be getting somewhere 

Somehow I'm neither here nor there 

"Please don't let my friends die. . ."

"Please don't let Trulpa win. . ."

"Please let the Senshi be all right. . ."

Can you help me remember how to smile 

Make it somehow all seem worthwhile 

How on earth did I get so jaded 

Life's mystery seems so faded 

At perhaps the same instant, all three boys were up and out of their beds, on their way to the living room of their tiny prison. Sage only stopped to quickly brush his hair, Kento a drink of water, and Cye a blanket to wrap the still frightened Dash in. It was then that they proceeded into the living quarters, and all three arrived at the same time.

An eerie silence fell onto the room, and they really saw each other.

I can go where no one else can go 

I know what no one else knows 

Here I am just drownin' in the rain 

With a ticket for a runaway train 

"We've all changed, haven't we?" Sage said. Sage, who had already been the tallest Ronin, had shot up several inches since their kidnapping. His features seemed to sharpen, but still retained the elfin beauty that drew young women to like a firefly to light. His eyes still shimmered, but the shimmer had changed from a care-free youthful sparkle to the mature glint of oncoming adulthood.

"We're never going to be the same again, are we?" Kento said. Though Kento was never "fat", per se, some excess weight he had around his face and body had hardened into muscle, slimming and shaping his form at the same time. Now he wasn't like the boyish and good-natured young man he'd once been, but rather an aged reflection of this.

"It's too late for us to go back to what we were," Cye finished. Though Cye still looked much younger than his companions, he'd gotten a little taller and his face had gotten slightly more angular. His eyes had lost their softness and naïve innocence, replaced by the reluctant knowledge that comes with age, time, and maturity. 

The boys were no longer boys. They were young men.

Everything is cut and dry, day and night, earth and sky 

Somehow I just don't believe it 

"I don't want to do this anymore," said Kento. His gray blue eyes began to swell with tears. "I don't want to have to fight for my life. I don't want to be tortured and tormented by crazy demons. I just want to go back to playing in my parent's backyard and playing catch with my little brothers."

Small streams of tears flowed down the cheeks of the last Flitteree. He clenched his eyes shut and turned his head to his shoulder. "I want to know what my real family was like. I don't want them to be dead! I want to know who they were and what they were like! I don't want to be alone in the world like this!"

"Why do we have to give up our innocence!?" Cye demanded, now fully crying. "Why do we have to arm ourselves as children!? Why should we sacrifice time we should be spending with friends and family to fight a war like this and end up loosing everything!? EVERYTHING!?"

Bought a ticket for a runaway train 

Like a madman laughin' at the rain 

Little out of touch, little insane 

Just easier than dealing with the pain 

The boys fell to their knees, Dash crawling out of Cye's arms to nuzzle his favorite master as the young men began to cry. They wept for their lost childhood, forever gone with the past. They cried for their families and friends that they would never see again and whom would never see them again.

But they cried for their innocence the most.

They cried for a time when they didn't know what things like war and torture and rape were. They cried for a time when they didn't know what it was like to experience real pain and suffering at the hands of their cruel captor. They cried for days when their biggest worries were simple things like grades and sports and their families. They cried for the things that had taken for granted, like laying on their beds and listening to the radio, or playing video games with younger siblings. 

Before long, the three young men were fast asleep on the floor of the living room, lying close to each other for comfort in the impending time of uncertainty. None of them knew what was to be coming or how long it was going to last. They weren't even sure if their escape plans would work (and one felt any escape was futile for him). Together, they did know one thing:

It wasn't going to be good.

Runaway train never comin' back 

Runaway train tearin' up the track 

Runaway train burnin' up my veins 

Runaway but it always seems the same

~

Finally got the end of this one! Now I just need to get into RSL and _Dragonia_, right?

****

Oops! In chapter seventeen, Cye mentioned the Child of Destiny without ever hearing it before. The mistake has since been fixed. Lena Ban Obsidian caught that one. 

Song credit goes to Soul Asylum for the song "Runaway Train"

Harry: Neither did I. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle some of the families, though I have some better ideas now. I'm also taking a little bit of a different path than most people usually do with SOME aspects of ONE of the families, but I won't say which one (where Cye's mom is dead, that leaves the Dates and Rei Fuangs). Yes, and there are some things that will occur as a result of this. No, Cye's mom won't come back to life like Anubis did- Anubis gets explained sometime during either RSL or another story. No thank you on the group, Harry, but thank you for asking anyways.

Bunch-o-Nuts: Wow, I'm glad you're into it! This is the last part, and all the new stuff will be in Dragonia or RSL. 

Lena: LENA-CHAN!!!!! Yeah, you certainly did have some catching up to do, but I'm glad to see you were excited to be caught up. Yes. The first CoC was (as I've said many times before in different wordings) "Once apon a time Cye, Sage, and Kento were kidnapped by Trulpa. It sucked." This version is : "Once apon a time Cye, Sage, and Kento were kidnapped by Trulpa. They were beaten, tortured, degraded, and made several Looney Tunes characters think 'Wow, that must have hurt'. It REALLY sucked." Bringing stuff in later? Yes indeed. I threw in little bits and pieces that have the potential to be addressed later. Some things I can't ignore, such as Cye's bracelet, but other things that stand as small plot devices could amount to something bigger later. For people who aren't Lena that are reading this, this is NOT limited to just this story- Lena knows a BIG one I have planned for MUCH later (there's an 80% chance it would HAVE to come AFTER the Ronins reunite). Lena, you should know what I'm talking about- e-mail me directly if you are unsure but please don't leave it here!!! I just really like the idea of Sage with wings. With the way a lot of artists (Japanese published doujinishi, Internet fan, and official alike) and writers portray him, I can't help but think of him as a elf or fairy- later on he gets the nickname "Fairy Boy" or something like that. The bracelet? You'll see. Cye is NOT the one who gets it off, and you'll see what happens. Anubis comes a little later in RSL (the first couple of chapters are being biting, snapping bitches right now). Yes, yes, I know you caught that :P. Though Kento and Sage certainly have their share of "special moments" (Kento had less of them, but by far he had one of the more traumatizing "special moments"), I agree. A lot of the story did focus in on Cye and his reactions, as it is a major player in this whole series. And have fun with your RP!

Narijima: I'm glad you liked that scene! There's a little more to that scene that gets explained later on in RSL, but none the less, most of the key factors were there. That one conversation will likely lead to another fascinating conversation later on between Cye and Anubis about their special situation. Glad you like the rest of it, too.

Triple C: Sorry, but that is easier to type that your full pen name. Oh, well, you've read them now so calm down! I didn't get a TON of review notices from FF.Net, but who am I to complain? 99% of the people here (give or take a percent) use this service for FREE. Sure a lot of people pay for the premium package but let's face it- the vast majority of us are not paying that cash. Yes I am mean to Cye! And in the Chrono Cross section I'm pretty mean to Glenn (and Dario and Norris and Karsh), too! Oi, if I ever write Magic Knight Rayearth fanfics poor Ferio would need to make sure his life insurance is paid up! Yeah, at this point Cye probably has some idea that there may be more to his whole "being born because Mum got drunk one night and doesn't know who know who my Daddy is" thing, but he's still unsure. Where did you get the thing about Anubis? I read though a few things but didn't find where you got that idea from. Ah, Cye's leash – you'll see. I still haven't finished that book, and I've have it since it was first released to the general public. Yes, as mangled as the little mutt is, he is pretty cute. He eats socks and begs for food from Sage. Gotta love it. Cye was in England, but he wasn't there for very long. Recall that Ryo could sense his friends all over **_Japan_**. That is a small country. Even when they went into the Nether Realm, they weren't all that far from Talpa's castle. So no, they probably didn't sense Cye in the Mortal Realm. 

****

One last note for everyone: RSL v2.0 is being a real pain to write, as is Dragonia. Please be patient with me! I've had a lot going on these past few weeks and I need a chance to recover from all that! 

~Dixxy


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